Lenny White | Anomaly

Lenny White | AnomalyWhen you hear the name Lenny White, what’s the first thing that comes to mind ? Return To Forever drummer extraordinaire ? Miles Davis’ “Bitches Brew” drummer ? Producer ? Songwriter?, etc. ? …. Well, you’re correct on all fronts. Lenny White delivers a brand new authentic jazz fusion record in “Anomaly” that’ll take you back to his solo 70’s Elektra Records jazz/rock recordings i.e. “Venusian Summer”, “Big City”, “The Adventures of Astral Pirates”, and the classic “Streamline”
His latest, the aforementioned “Anomaly”, released on the musician friendly oriented, Cary, North Carolina based record company, Abstract Logix, in conjunction with Lenny’s company, Chinese Music, is a throwback to those early fusion days ….. with a contemporary feel thrown in for good measure. Let’s check out some of the highlights of this long awaited 12 song disc.
First track, “Drum Boogie”, is a fast paced tempo’d jazz rocker that features the talents of Tom Guarna on guitar, Victor Bailey on bass, Bernard Wrighton bass synth (A lot of you may remember Bernard from his 1985 Urban hit, “Who Do You Love”, which was produced by Lenny), Vince Evans on keyboards, George Colligan on organ. Longtime guitarist of Lenny’s former band ‘Twennynine’, Nick Moroch delivers a powerhouse solo that’ll take you back to his fantastic work on “Streamline”.Funk meister Donald Blackman throws down on a blistering Hammond B3 organ solo. One can’t help but to tap their feet when this song kicks into overdrive, a great opening song.
“We Know”, is a straight up Fusion/Rock N Roll track that’ll smack you right in the face in the first few bars and beyond. This time we’re blessed with the “Lord Of The Low Frequencies”, Stanley Clarke on bass, of course Lenny on drums and on keyboards, and once again, Nick Moroch on guitar, along with David Bendeth sharing guitar solos. This track just grooves from start to finish. Lenny’s footwork is a combination of kick tail Rock N Roll and Funk combined.
“Forever”, features another great artist in her own right on lead vocal, the extremely gifted songwriter/keyboardist/singer, Ms. Nicki Richards. Co-written by both Lenny and Nicki, this song is a nice blend of R&B, Folk, Rock. This live in the studio performed track, as I’m sure they were all recorded, starts off in a lullaby fashion then delves straight into the groove.“Dark Moon”, a David Gilmour original, (No, he’s NOT the same David Gilmour of famed British Prog Rock band, Pink Floyd), is more on the Contemporary Jazz side of things, but works well here. David, whom is also a guitarist, is accompanied by Bernard Wright on acoustic piano,Vince Evans on keyboards, Victor Bailey on upright acoustic bass. All participating musician’s performances on this song fell right in order as they keep the tempo and melody in perfect harmony. Surely one of the standout tracks on this record.
“Election Day”, the funk is turned up in high gear ! Lenny’s hard hit kick drum,crashing snare drum hits and cymbal rides, along with Nick Moroch’s blazing guitar solo, Victor Bailey’s fast fingered bass playing, and ‘Nard’s keyboard solo, (‘Nard is Bernard Wright’s nickname),Vince Evans and George Colligan’s mastery on keyboards, Tom Guarna’s hard licked guitar work, will have you turning up that volume knob to 11 ! Upon hearing this for the first time, the “Streamline”album IMMEDIATELY came to mind as it took me back to that time period in1978. This track is certainly for the car ride cruising down the FDR Drive here in NYC !
“Coming Down”, the pace is slowed down a bit, but nonetheless, it’s still has that Funk edge to it. ‘Nard’s keyboard solo is excellent, as is Tom Guarna’s guitar solo. Ex-Weather Report bassist Victor Bailey delivered a magnificent fretless bass solo towards the end. Lenny steady beat and overall performance kept all the elements held nicely together. This is another great track off this long awaited project.
“Anthem”, a George Colligan original, has an ‘anthemic’ feel to it.Lenny’s fever paced drumming, Tom’s Pink Floydish guitar work,George’s larger than life keyboards, and Richie Goods’ fancy fusion bass guitar playing, adds a nice dimension to this exceptional disc. One aspect I like about this record are the production values in that this one well recorded album, and those honors go to engineer Manfred Knoop, Dan Koneff, Ian Boxill, and several other audio tunesmiths.
Remaining tracks, the fast and furious fusion of “Gazelle”, the funky and adventuresome “If U Dare” {Please refer to the YouTube music clip}, the soulful and mid temp’d Funk of “Catt Let Out Of The Bag”, the World Beat feel and message oriented of “Water Changes Everything”, and closing track, the bluesy and at times, atmospheric overtones of “The Wait Has Lifted The Weight”, rounds out the Lenny White album that will standout from the pack. Well worth the wait. Pick it up ASAP !
Please visit Lenny’s Official Website for more information :http://www.lennywhite.comHappy Listening !
Randy Mahon
The Urban Music Scene