There\u2019s no question Bernie Worrell, a founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic, is as talented as any keyboardist. He has worked with many great artists in four decades, from Talking Heads to Yoko Ono to Buddy Guy. His latest solo album, Standards<\/i>, is a nice collection of jazz covers that range from improvisational to groovy, though the record has its weak spots. It\u2019s also better if you know or familiarize yourself with the songs he covers. Unsurprisingly, the strongest tracks give the spotlight to Worrell. <\/p>\n
The album starts off personal with \u201cTake The \u2018A\u2019 Train,\u201d a great take on the Billy Strayhorn original. Worrell\u2019s interpretation is more relaxed and sentimental than the Duke Ellington recording. \u201cTake The \u2018A\u2019 Train\u201d is also the only song on Standards <\/i>featuring Worrell by himself. You can tell this song means a lot to him. <\/p>\n
In contrast, \u201cTake Five\u201d features Worrell with his band, including guitarist Smokey Hormel, bassist Melvin Gibbs, and drummer J.T. Lewis. This funky track doesn\u2019t compare that well to the original recording by the Dave Brubek Quartet. Notwithstanding that this version features more solos than the Brubek version, it is not as exciting. Brubek\u2019s band not only changed up their instrumentation but also used volume to dynamic effect. Worrell\u2019s band doesn\u2019t measure up in this respect. They don\u2019t measure up to Worrell\u2019s own creativity, either. For example, Hormel\u2019s rhythm guitar in \u201cTake Five\u201d fares better than his lead, which vies for space with Worrell\u2019s keyboard in the second half and comes off as contrived in comparison. <\/p>\n
Worrell\u2019s band finds its place on the bossa nova standard, \u201cAgua De Beber.\u201d Wisely, Worrell stays at the forefront throughout this track. Worrell\u2019s improvisation makes this my favorite interpretation of \u201cAgua De Beber\u201d by far, even though it isn\u2019t the definitive version. <\/p>\n
Like \u201cTake Five,\u201d \u201cAll The Things You Are\u201d is given a funky spin, but unlike \u201cTake Five,\u201d it\u2019s not bogged down with unimaginative solos. Gibbs does his best work on the bass here because he\u2019s focused on a groove. The attention to volume and shorter solos allow the song to take you on a journey, an experience different from those offered by Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Joe Pass, and the many others who have played this standard. <\/p>\n
In the middle of the album is perhaps the best cover, \u201cYou\u2019re My Thrill.\u201d Billie Holiday unquestionably recorded the definitive version of this song, and Worrell takes a cue from her, tapping into the darkness of the tune. His approach makes the crescendo at the four-minute mark that much more affecting. <\/p>\n
Next is \u201cWatermelon Man,\u201d a Herbie Hancock original that Hancock funked up for Headhunters<\/i>. Worrell and his band capture the spirit of the song, but this track doesn\u2019t hit you in the gut like the Headhunters <\/i>version. <\/p>\n
The band slows down again for \u201cBye Bye Blackbird,\u201d a song that will always be nice and perhaps make you sick because of that. It works best in a bookstore. <\/p>\n
\u201cKiller Joe\u201d doesn\u2019t bring anything that noteworthy to the Benny Golson original. Lewis\u2019 drumming in the middle is perfunctory, and Hormel\u2019s guitar solo is cheesy (he does better work on the subtler songs). <\/p>\n
Standards<\/i> has a good ending with \u201cMoon River.\u201d Hormel\u2019s solo in the first half allows you to forget the schlock he does in \u201cKiller Joe.\u201d Appropriately, Worrell\u2019s sentimental piano is at work again. I can imagine looking at a river from a back porch while listening to this one.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Despite the mediocrity of certain tracks, Standards <\/i>is worth a shot. It\u2019s not groundbreaking or challenging, but it\u2019s not trying to be. The best moments are when Worrell\u2019s the clear lead and the band knows its place. Another album with this in mind could result in something even better. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":30765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[8750],"rating":[5615],"class_list":["post-42439","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bernie-worrell","rating-rating-b"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42439"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/42439\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=42439"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=42439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}