Another album from the 70's I mainly bought because it said " Arrangements: Fred Wesley". You never can go wrong. Released in 1979. I love how jazz influenced this funk album is, like many records during this time. Chameleon was found by saxophonist Azar Lawrence, a saxophonist with an interesting career between jazz and r&b, from Elvin Jones to Roberta Flack, Earth Wind & Fire and Busta Rhymes.. and still performing, as a matter of fact, this weekend at Dizzy's, Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York City with his jazz quintet. You know who plays drums? The name rang a bell... and yes, it's not coincidence they are family: Ronald Bruner. He's the father of Ronald Bruner, Jr, Stephen Bruner (Thundercat) and Jameel Bruner of The Internet. Thanks to Discogs, we can also have a look at some of the other musicians: Delbert Taylor, the trumpet player, played also in Slave and also plays on Fred's "House Party". Michael E. Stanton: played with Marvin Gaye, on the same live album as bass player Gerald Brown. I wonder how they met. Did they tour with this project? Or was it the funky dream come true of Azar Lawrence? I'll ask him and if I get an answer I'll let you know.
This is one of my favourites of the album, the instrumental "Mysteryoso. Clear signature of Fred. I always wonder if he influenced the Brecker Brothers during the Parliament period or they influence them. Or both? Questions, questions, questions :-)
This is the title track called Dark Horse. Just as in the album version it features sax and piano solos. It's a pretty wild performance, matching today's start of the Chinese New Year: THE YEAR OF THE FIRE HORSE!Live at Bimhuis, we added a drum solo. Afterwards, I decided to seperate it from the song and post it as an extra video below. Why not in one video?Because the video would become very very long and experience shows that people will not stick around for longer that 6-7 minutes. Yoràn's free drum solo is actually really great and in this seperate video, the true drum lovers can watch and learn from his drum story telling. Sometimes people ask me; What are drummers doing in their solos? To give you an idea of what Yoràn is doing in his solo: He starts with a pattern, an idea. He keeps the pattern going and plays variations over it. Then he combines it with soloing over it with call and reponse phrases and slides in new patterns. Technically it's interesting because he demonstrates a lot of independence and speed, as well as dynamics and sound colours, while telling a story, which means in musical context that the solo has certain elements which can be recognized by the (trained) listener. Many people in the Western part of the world miss the melodic and harmonic context during a free drum solo. It's fair to say a free drum solo without any accompaniment is like an abstract painting. Within the given context you can hear and see what you can manage, depending on your own frame of reference and expectations. In the end, it's about: does it resonate with you? Because both, the painting and the free drum solo, they lack a clear subject (no lyrics, no recognizable image), both forms are highly subjective and open to the interpretation of the audience. They function as a conversation between the artist's feeling and the viewer's/listener's perception.But you also can listen to it with a pure analytical drum ear and try to follow the patterns and phrases. As a musician and human I (try to) do both :-) Enjoy!More info:Susanne Alt: sax, Matthijs Geerts and Ike van Bergen: keys, Thomas Pol: bass, Yoràn Vroom: drums, Helene Jank: percussion Performed at 16th of January 2026 at Bimhuis, Amsterdam, Recorded by Onno Prillwitz Filmed by Robert Glass and Albert Nooij. - Another album from the 70's I mainly bought because it said Arrangements: Fred Wesley. You never can go wrong. Released in 1979. I love how jazz influenced this funk album is, like many records during this time. Chameleon was found by saxophonist Azar Lawrence, a saxophonist with an interesting career between jazz and r&b, from Elvin Jones to Roberta Flack, Earth Wind & Fire and Busta Rhymes.. and still performing, as a matter of fact, this weekend at Dizzy's, Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York City with his jazz quintet.You know who plays drums? The name rang a bell... and yes, it's not coincidence they are family: Ronald Bruner. He's the father of Ronald Bruner, Jr, Stephen Bruner (Thundercat) and Jameel Bruner of The Internet. Thanks to Discogs, we can also have a look at some of the other musicians: Delbert Taylor, the trumpet player, played also in Slave and also plays on Fred's House Party. Michael E. Stanton: played with Marvin Gaye, on the same live album as bass player Gerald Brown. I wonder how they met. Did they tour with this project? Or was it the funky dream come true of Azar Lawrence? I'll ask him and if I get an answer I'll let you know.This is one of my favourites of the album, the instrumental Mysteryoso. Clear signature of Fred. I always wonder if he influenced the Brecker Brothers during the Parliament period or they influence them. Or both? Questions, questions, questions :-)
