Record Reviews

WHEELER / O`MARA / DARLING / ELGART ~ WHEELER / O`MARA / DARLING / ELGART KOALA 22 (Barcode: 4006759703427) ~ UK ~ Jazz Recorded: 1990 Released: 1991 This is the only album by the Jazz quartet which comprises of British trumpeter Kenny WheelerFind albums by this artist, Australian guitarist Peter O`MaraFind albums by this artist and American bassist Wayne DarlingFind albums by this artist and drummer Bill ElgartFind albums by this artist. O`Mara, Darling and Elgart settled in Europe in the 1970s and early 1980s and enjoyed a fruitful career as players, composers and educators, also playing and recording together as a trio for many years. They invited Wheeler to play with them on a tour and this album is a document of their work together as a quartet. The album presents eight original compositions, four by O`Mara, two by Wheeler and one each by Darling and Elgart. The music is typical modern mainstream Jazz, with excellent melodic compositions and clever arrangements, obviously superbly executed by these veteran musicians. O`Mara plays some wonderful guitar licks and proves that he is sadly one of the most underrated Jazz guitarists around. Wheeler is absolutely marvelous on trumpet and flugelhorn, maintaining his unique personal sound which is simply unmatched. The sound of the electric guitar invokes some slight Fusion associations, but this music has very little to do with Fusion per se. The last, longest and most interesting track on the album moves into more open territory coming momentarily close to Free Jazz, but again this is not the mainline on this album. Although there is no groundbreaking innovation here, the album offers an unusual instrumentation with the trumpet / guitar harmony and solid beautiful music, combined with first class performances, which should pass the strictest scrutiny by any true Jazz connoisseur. For the many Wheeler fans this little known album us of course an absolute must!

Updated: 15/06/2019Posted: 15/06/2019

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