Clive Stevens
was a British saxophonist and composer who played with
Bob Downes
and
Manfred Mann
before immigrating to the U.S. and studying at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, where he befriended guitarists
John Abercrombie
Ralph Towner
.
Stevens
signed to
Capitol
in late 1973, and released two jazz fusion classics just months apart in 1974. The first,
Atmospheres featuring Clive Stevens & Friends
, showcased the saxophonist with
Towner
on electric piano and clavinet,
Abercrombie
Steve Khan
on guitars, and the
Mahavishnu Orchestra
rhythm section -- bassist
Rick Laird
and drummer
Billy Cobham
Voyage to Uranus
returned
, but in the company of bassist
Stu Woods
, drummer
Michael Carvin
, and percussionist
David Earle Johnson
. While the first volume has been given its critical due,
has languished in obscurity; its first reissue was in 2015.
Opener "Shifting Phases" recalls, at times,
Soft Machine
,
Ian Carr
's
Nucleus
, and
Return to Forever
. Introduced by a jazz-funk vamp from
Woods
plays snaky electric piano across the backdrop as
Carvin
drives the vamp on his snare and hi-hat.
takes the first solo -- phase shifter in full effect -- before an electrified
playing soprano sax joins him on the melody.
's wafting, spacey Rhodes piano adds dimension as the band bubbles and cooks all around him. "Culture Release" opens with spiky rolling drums before
's funky clavinet roils while
goes at him head-on.
trades fours with both players as
holds it down. "Inner Spaces and Outer Places" is driven by a bumping funky bassline. More prog rock than fusion, it offers interlocking cadences, syncopated time signatures, and rolling grooves before a soloists' duel between
.
The album's second half is a bit gentler but holds most of the compositional gold.
was a wonderful melodic improviser and a composer who understood how to write for an ensemble. His insistence on space, lush tonalities, and restraint governs this half. Dig the easy soul-jazz vibe in the title track as he soars above
's tasty comping on the Rhodes, while
fingerpicks the changes;
Johnson
create a sweet, grooving, rhythmic pocket. The speculatively intense "Electric Impulse from the Heart" is fueled by resonant tenor and dark, distorted piano chords. The guitarist and rhythm section offer dramatic circular phrases and harmonic extrapolations akin to
King Crimson
's. "Water Rhythms" walks a jagged line between fusion and prog with elegant congas, wonderfully funky guitar comping, and a spiraling tenor sax solo.
's break-laden drumming gathers intensity while
adds a greasy wah-wah vamp before
's grimy, imaginative Rhodes solo. The gentle closer, "Return to the Earth," offers
playing acoustic 12-string and
on flute as the rest of the band enfolds them in a spacious, pillowy caress.
is not only a fitting companion for its better-known predecessor but a stellar, criminally underheard chapter in '70s prog-jazz fusion. ~ Thom Jurek