Bernie Worrell: Elevation: The Upper Air-Solo Piano
Author: Robert Shore
View record and artist detailsRecord and Artist Details
Musicians: |
Bernie Worrell (p) |
Label: |
M.O.D. Technologies |
Magazine Review Date: |
May/2014 |
Catalogue Number: |
MOD0012 |
RecordDate: |
date not stated |
As all British schoolchildren, past and present, know, Dr Who regenerates every few years and steps out of his Tardis looking completely different. You could say the same of Dr Woo – aka Bernie Worrell – in audio terms, at least. The former keyboard king with George Clinton's Parliament/Funkadelic has rarely rested on his laurels, regularly re-emerging, in his collaborations with the likes of Talking Heads, with a new sound. On this new disc, the Moog master gives up his synths for simple, solo piano and abandons the more space-age sounds that defined his early career in favour of just, well, space. In this highly ambient recording, produced by Bill Laswell and released on the avant-gardist's own label, he takes on a series of standards drawn from different genres: ‘In A Silent Way’, Santana's ‘Samba Pa Ti’, Bob Marley's ‘Redemption Song’. It's lyrical and unhurried – he strips the melodies down but, having done that, never attempts anything too obviously complex or too jazz. This isn't a demonstration of technical chops or of lightning fingers, but rather of spacious, easy taste and joyous simplicity. And you've got to be good to pull that off.

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