Bobby Previte has been one of the leading figures in the music world of New York City for the past 20 years, and Rolling Stone named him the Hot Jazz Artist of the Year. His electrifying drumming and unclassifiable compositions have made him a major light in both jazz and rock, with his compositions praised for being utterly original and individual.
This is a thin cardboard-sleeved disc with notes so tiny as to be nearly unreadable and there’s no record number but it’s a dynamic and powerful guitar-centered rock instrumental excursion that makes much of the instrumental rock of the 60s sound awfully amateurish. This stuff rocks! and not in a stuck needle/tape loop type of repetition either. There’s fascinating and unexpected development and variations. Hunter plays a Fender Telecaster and Fender Bass in some very strong solos, and Saft – who is also the producer of the session – adds his stable of various instruments, and the whole intense ensemble is urged forward by Previte’s propelling drums. What is readable in the notes is exposed under the CD holder: an excerpt from George Orwell’s 1984, which fits in with the disc’s images of Big Brother on TV and the red and black graphics of Soviet poster art. The conclusion of the track notes goes to large type for the line: Wake Up Everbody.
Tracks: The Ministry of Truth, Airstrip One, Versificator, The Ministry of Love, Oceania, The Inner Party, Memory Hole, Anthem for Andrea
– John Henry