Bennett Brandeis The View From Above

Great sounding jazz from a competent artist. Too bad he's not actually on the cover of the CD. Waiting for his next release!

Intoxicatingly strong compositions and sensitive guitar playing from Bennett Brandeis on this JM-inspired CD. Hints of other writing styles include Dave Grusin, Wayne Shorter and Pat Metheny, while Brandeis displays a wonderful understanding of harmony all his own. A prime example is heard for a frustratingly fleeting moment towards the close of the brilliant final track Sandstone, a piano-pounding, Freddie Hubbard-sounding, rumba hip-hop, upbeat, backbeat, aw reet, foot-tapping funk, too good to be true. Brandeis' soloing style is less angular and bluesy than JM's, but there's not a track on this album that doesn't have something for the JM fan. It's not Mahavishnu Orchestra electrics, but those subtle acoustic runs filled with intense lyrical beauty that lift the soul when you hear them. It's an album born of an appreciation for time spent in the mountains, a shared spirit that touches so many of us, but few are able to express that emotion as well as on The View From Above.