Michael Brecker's album, Time is of the Essence features Brecker on tenor sax, Pat Methany on guitar, Larry Goldings playing the organ, and trio of outstanding drummers. Bill Stewart, Jeff “Tain” Watts, and Elvin Jones alternate tracks on drums. The album was released in 1999.
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The last track on the record is a song called Outrance which features Brecker, Goldings, and Elvin Jones. As I've listened to this song many times over the years, I have come to appreciate it more and more. The flow of the song is absolutely perfect in my ears. Elvin plays a short introduction followed by the head. The blowing section starts with Michael and the groove is great. As the energy builds, Larry drops out and we are gifted with hearing Brecker and Elvin hook up as a duo for minutes. (Elvin used to do this with John Coltrane.)
As a drummer, I've had the opportunity to play as a duo with sax players and I love it. There is something special about the energy that happens with these two instruments. It's hard to put into words. The groove and time are there but they are focused on more. They are having a musical conversation with no hesitation. In my opinion, it's a gift that it was captured in a studio.
After the duo, Michael drops out and Leaves Elvin to take us home. Sweet thunder.
The song finishes with the head and they put a bow on it. This song was played with the kind if energy that stresses my wife but inspires me :-).
This whole album features 3 of my favorite drummers and I can't say enough how much I love it. Larry Goldings finds great but different grooves with each drummer. In some ways I feel like they truly saved the best for last with Outrance. Imagine being a fly on the wall in the recording studio. I bet everyone was smiling!
Thank you Michael, Larry, and Elvin!