Rating:
Genre:
Jazz
Release Date: 02/23/1999
Run Time: 56:11
The need for pretty album titles can sometimes be a detriment to releases whose music is way too deep, intricate, and explosive for the words to convey.
Saxman
Ed Calle's
Concord Vista debut has all the intimate sizzle of
Gato Barbieri, all the playful percussive joy of
Arturo Sandoval (who guests), all the flamenco intimacy of
Ottmar Liebert, and all the retro soul of
Calle's inspirational heroes
Earth, Wind & Fire. Yet the title
Sunset Harbor conveys only the easygoing side of the veteran sideman's personality, wonderfully expressed on the tender, sweet, and catchy
"Rachel's Song" and
"Marianne." The buoyant attitude of the disc is much better conveyed by
"Strollin'," which finds
Calle revving up for a self-created horn section (by doubling and then tripling his tenor) over an irrepressible Latin groove.
"Nightfall" is an appropriate moniker for a
Gato-like salsa slow dance with retro soul undercurrents like
Jim Gasior's synth-generated Rhodes sound.
Calle goes the full hip-hop distance on
"Suds," wrapping his tenor and EWI around the same type of keyboard accents and
Dan Warner's wah-wah guitar.
"San Sebastian" is the centerpiece, however, the musical equivalent of a lazy-paced cantina (flamenco guitar provided by
Sandoval's longtime associate
Rene Toledo) catching fire with
Calle's galloping sax melody and
Sandoval's flaming trumpet acting as chief pyromaniacs.
Calle's tributes to
Earth, Wind & Fire and
Chicago (
"Colour My World") allow him to play before horn sections but have nothing on the dazzling original material he presents.
~Jonathan Widran, All Music Guide
;)
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