Still pursuing his own muse,
Jamal
is up to his usual tricks with his hypnotic vamps and and feverish runs, as ever refusing to toe the line and sound like everyone else. In this, the third installment of his Essence series, Jamal adds a different twist -- a fine jazz steel drum player named
Othello Molineaux
-- and he mixes a few transfigured standards (
"The End of a Love Affair"
is completely re-routed through his nervous system) with pieces of his own. The first version (for quartet) of "If I Find You Again" is a magnificent example of the tension
can generate. "And We Were Lovers" and "Chaperon" are huge, borderline bombastic piano solos that ought to erase any doubts that
continues to command one monster keyboard technique. As in the previous Essence entries, a guest horn player shows up briefly, tenorman
Stanley Turrentine
in epigrammic form on "Devil's in My Den," and the ultra-responsive rhythm section remains
Idris Muhammad
(drums) and
James Cammack
(bass). ~ Richard S. Ginell