The Playmaker

he's a trip!

I recently went to a Jazz concert featuring the Mads Tolling Quartet. At the time, I didn't know much about this group, but I was blown away. And it wasn't just me. The consensus among our group was it was a great show. I enjoyed the concert so much, I immediately bought The Playmaker which featured much of the music from the show.At the concert, they said the CD title came from the concept that a musical group can be similar to a sports team. The Quartet works together to make a real winning team. If you like Chick Corea's "Return to Forever", then you would love this CD. It has quickly become one of my personal favorites. I look forward to their next CD.

I picked this up at Rasputin's in Beserkley last week as a recommended pick.I feel this album is poorly engineered and produced with a lack of direction.It seems as if he can't decide on being a new age sounding Windham Hill artist or a cutting edge fusion pioneer.The Mahavishnu stuff is nice,but the mix kinda sucks from the stand point that the bass and drums are too far down in the mix.Dude,get yourself a good producer/engineer!Michael Walden lives over in Marin and has a studio in San Raphael.It would behoove you to check him out.UPDATE:I took another listen just see if my original impression has changed.Nope,it still lacks a cohesive direction.The drumming I find especially weak,from the playing to the recording.While track 6 is somewhat interesting,the mix on the drums just sucks.No dynamics,no electricity.no excitement.Acoustic bass on a Mahavishnu piece,come on!Dude you're from Holland,go check out Paul Van Wageningen(he lives around here) and use him as a drummer.I have a friend who's grandmother played in the San Francisco symphony and her take on the album was it could be used as background music at a funeral.You are in danger of being likened to Noel Pointer.Next time you record:[...]see M Walden as producer.