photo: Heads Up International
There might not be a more accurate title for a Mike Stern album than the one coming out next week. All Over The Place highlights the musical personality of one of jazz’s most original guitarists of the last thirty years. Deservedly belonging in any sentence that includes Scofield, Frisell and Metheny, Stern took advanced courses in improvisation and phrasing from Miles like Sco, has developed a singular style no matter the setting like Frisell and is keen on the intricacies of melody and harmony like Metheny. Like all of those three, his comfort zone is as big as music itself.
Stern is very consistent, too; the qualities found on his 1986 debut Upside Downside can be located All Over The Place, through different personnel and changing production values. As always, Stern’s own guitar is at the center. Fluid and stiletto-slicing at once, handling beauty as comfortably as he can deliver the nasty, Stern’s advanced, heavily-accoladed technique is here for those who want a guitar clinic, but since he never flashes his vast facility just to show off, his music is easily embraceable to those who just want to hear a good fusion record.
There are also the wildly diverse styles: funky grooves (“AJ,” “Flip Side”), straight ahead jazz (“Blues For Al,” “OCD”), an acoustic guitar ballad (“You Never Told Me”, As Far As We Know”), African fusion (“Cameroon”) and electric, blues-based fusion (“Half Way Home”). All songs written by one guy: Mike Stern.
Another Stern hallmark found on this record is the ridiculous roster of guest artists appearing on the album; it’s enough to make Carlos Santana jealous. But Stern has had a star-studded credit list on his records since the first one, and he knows how to put them to work for the sake of the song, not to just to have bragging rights. It never, ever feels like a “Mike Stern and friends” affair, it’s just Mike Stern making a record with some well-chosen help.
He had Jaco Pastorius perform on his debut album, and for this one, he enlists a bevy of bass heavies, carefully selecting the right one for each song. Anthony Jackson’s meaty contrabass is employed for “AJ,” and Grammy sensation Esperanza Spalding is utilized for both her lithe acoustic bass and vocalizing on “As Far As We Know.” Cameroon native Richard Bona vocalizes over the cheery, ethnic fusion flavored numbers “Cameroon” and “Light,” accompanying his electric bass. Victor Wooten supplies a fat bottom end to give “Half Way Home” a thickened sound. The eternally elite Dave Holland is there to anchor the acoustic numbers.
Drummers play a big part in Stern’s plans, too, and the line-up here is equally impressive. Former Miles band mate Al Foster plays on the more straight-ahead tracks, while Dave Weckl, present on Stern’s first album, is here to handle those Bona tracks, and Keith Carlock is called in for “Flip Side” and the angular, jumpy rhythms of “All Over The Place.”
Other luminaries on this guest list include some old favorites in saxophonist Bob Malach, another sax player in Kenny Garrett, trumpeter Randy Brecker, and wife Leni Stern, who plays an exotic three stringed instrument from Mali called an n’goni ba for “Out Of The Blue.” Jim Beard, who has either played keyboards and/or produced on almost every Stern record going back to 1987, handles both duties here. (Apologies in advance on anyone I missed, as it’s such a long, illustrious roster.)
And thus, this album doesn’t’ really have to be anything special apart from just being your typical Mike Stern record. That in itself is special enough. All Over The Place follows the same blueprint Mike Stern has charted on more than 25 years in recording as a leader, and there hadn’t been any reason to tamper with a winning formula for a successful album.
All Over The Place is set for wide release on June 19, by Concord affiliate label Heads Up International.
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