Colosseum: Live

Rating: ★★★★

Record and Artist Details

Musicians:

Gerald Watkins (d)
Jason Marsalis (vib)
Jasen Weaver (b)
Oscar Rossignoli (p)

Label:

Basin Street Records

August/2020

Media Format:

CD

Catalogue Number:

0306

RecordDate:

5 May 2017

For those about to salivate over 150 minutes of jazz rock, we salute you. You may have lost count of what seems limitless revisits to the Colosseum back catalogue, but there's no discounting the deserved affection held for Live. Epic in its day as a double LP, it's now bolstered by an extra CD containing a ‘complete’ version of their 1969 classic, ‘The Valentyne Suite’. This ‘rediscovered’ offering is contemporaneous with the gigs that produced the Live recording, so stylistically the material hangs together. For sheer energy the extra tracks are worth a listen, even if the studio sheen of the original album is obviously missing. That said, Colosseum were always best enjoyed live, and this is the most satisfying way to enjoy their OTT grandeur, whether it's revelling in Heckstall-Smith's multi-sax grandstanding, Hiseman's thunderous pyrotechnics or Clempson's blistering blues-based breaks. Someone, though, seems to have got carried away with the Manchester origins of the live recordings, because the band's high-octane take on ‘Tanglewood ’63’, a capella vox and all, is credited to a Mr Giggs. Mike Gibbs would not be amused….

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