Legere Recordings Germany レコード& CD

Review: 'Zeus' is the first ever full-length album by Max Beesley's High Vibes ensemble, who released two classic 12" singles on Boogie Back Records at the height of the acid jazz movement in 1993-94. Dropping thereafter, the album hears eight tracks of floor-ready jazz-funk fusion, gathering together some of the greatest session players in the world - Steve Gadd on drums, Dean Parks on guitar, Luis Conte on percussion, Walt Fowler on trumpet, Christian Sands on keyboards, Jerry Meehan on bass, and Mike Davis on trombone - for an electrifying odyssey all led by Beesley himself, who helms up piano, vibraphone, synth and vocals responsibilities.

Review: In the spring of 2020, during the UK's first COVID-19 lockdown, Nichol Thompson and Shawn Lee decided to join forces and make an album inspired by their love of smooth jazz, fusion and turn-of-the-'80s jazz-funk. The results, credited to the Super Highway Band and collected together on this essential debut album, are little less than spectacular. Both Thompson and Lee are highly talented multi-instrumentalists with a deep love of the sounds they're emulating (think CTI Records, George Duke, Quincy Jones and the Crusaders), and you can genuinely tell. Funky, polished, brilliantly performed and blessed with some genuinely righteous horn arrangements, it's a hugely enjoyable romp full of memorable moments and floor-fillng workouts. Oh, and quite a bit of languid trombone.