Players: Jake Kot – bass; George Mitchell – keyboards; Renato Caranto – saxophone; Dave Derge – drums; Paul Mazzio - trumpet

Titles: 1. More Proof - 2. Katie - 3. On the Run - 4. In a Moment (For Nick) - 5. Four Into One - 6. At A Glance - 7. Enter

Summaries:
1) More Proof: A strong interaction between bass and drums, with a nice accentuated groove throughout. Interesting octave pedal slap solo in the beginning. Although there were really pointless solos from both bass and keyboards it’s a nice tune, presenting some interesting possibilities, yet a little meandering.

2) Katie: The trumpet intro with bass is very "old school fusion" (nice). Sax melody part which reminds me a little of early Dave Weckl. Cool "burping" bass line throughout (nice). Typical sax solo, yet very nice bass osstinato underneath. 4/5

3) On the Run: Nice bass solo at the beginning. the interaction between bass and sax is refreshing - not trying to out-do each other. A very deep slap tone (some kind of chorused processing - which is nice). Nice piano solo, with a Latinesque underneath. 4/5

4) In a Moment (For Nick): Nice mellow jazz piece - brushes on the drums – and the sax melody line is nice. Nice movement. Fretless bass comes in with a very nice dual line with sax. Great solo - obvious nod to Jaco, yet the solo is more of an upright player's approach, reminds me of James Genus (Kai would really enjoy). Best part is that the solo didn't go on forever. 5/5

5) Four Into One: My favourite song on the album. Very funky (nice organ underneath). Nice Tower of Power feel, with Hammond organ. Great bass line thought-out. The sax solo tears it up, followed by very nice bass solo that reminds me a little of Richard Bona (chorused effect on there, which I like). Nice slurs. Again, a short and to the point solo that ends before it gets boring. 5/5

6) At A Glance: The title track. More traditional '70s fusion feel, like older Chick Corea. Cool bass solo. Uses some very well executed pinch harmonics - quickly executed, not the typical long notes. More of a traditional jazz approach during the bass solo. Again, just long enough to hold the listeners attention. 4/5

7) Enter: Jazz and fusion player's fall back end-of-the-album piece. Atmospheric and really not doing a hell of a lot. Trying all too hard to follow the Jaco/Weather Report idea from 30 years ago. While it's not a bad track (nice bass playing etc.) it left me looking for the forward button on the remote.

Conclusion: The first thing that struck me about this, was the really nice bass tone - prominent, but not predominant. It’s jazz, without trying too hard to sound like jazz. Like a good bassist's album, the bass is not one long meandering solo, yet chooses to allow the other instrumentalists to interact and contribute, especially with the saxophonist, Renato Caranto. This album finds itself in the typical, yet always interesting fusion mould. Not overtly fusion, nor jazz, just a very nice all round vibe. Nice album, nice players, nice everything. Not startling, yet if jazz/fusion is your bag, then this is it.

1. Atlantis - 2. Provincetown - 3. Maiden Voyage - 4. To Dance with Whales - 5. A Lady Lost - 6. Pirate's passion - 7. The Deep Blue - 8. The talisman - 9. Into the Sun

I have a confession, for those who know me, this is nothing new, but I have a morbid fascination with extended range basses. I particularly hanker after a 9-string bass myself. Mark Roberts is a 7-string player (for those of you who don't know, or care much for about extended range basses - the 7-string is strung, from low to high, B-E-A-D-G-C-F), playing a Conklin 7.

I was particularly interested to hear what chordal patterns and harmonic avenues Mark would be taking on this outing. I have to say this right off the bat – this is possibly the worst album that I have ever heard. I couldn’t get past maybe a minute of each song before skipping on to the next track. Not because the playing was bad – it was just very, very uninteresting. In an era where extended range players like Jean Baudin (http://www.jeanbaudin.com/), Yves Carbonne (http://www.yvescarbonne.com/) and Al Caldwell (http://www.tbhillbilly.com/) are tearing up 9 and 11 string basses – exploring all sorts of musical possibilities – Mark plays in such an unconvincing manner, that I had to wonder why he’s even bothering with an extended range bass. In fact, why a bass at all. No flurries from the lowest to the highest notes – not chord arpeggios – in fact, nothing but mindless new age meanderings. Very atmospheric with nothing to offer the listener a chance to get a cup of tea on the boil.