Desert And The City, The

Shimmering jazz compositions with clear influence of Impressionism (the Classical music genre). Pieces mix slow, stark, sparse passages with faster, complex ones (desert and city). Composer Mike Rood’s guitar tone and playing style sound as though he’s taken the place of the electric piano or vibraphone. Sax leads much more often than the guitar.

All instrumental. No FCC issues.

1. Based on 6-note motif on guitar. The group swirls ‘round it. Easy, mid-slow. (3:38)
2. Three long sections led by sax, guitar, sax; the last is the most interesting. Middle is mainly guitar improv. Easy to listen to, but uninteresting, mid-tempo, soft jazz. (12:57)
3. Opens and closes with fast, syncopated drumming and some guitar chords. Middle shifts down tempo to something soft and spacey, except there’s a fast bass solo. Odd mix. (3:58)
4. Mid-slow tempo, gentle and soft. Drums played with brushes. Sax and guitar play nice melodies, both together and separately. Excellent cocktail-party background music. (6:01)
5. Opens with slow, soulful theme on sax backed by spacey vibrato guitar; shifts up-tempo for syncopated drum, sax, and guitar; shifts back down for more guitar doodling; then a fast mainstream-jazz sax solo. Interesting parts rate a * but the whole lacks cohesion. (8:58)
6. ** Cool sax melody against guitar arpeggios from space. Stays true as a cohesive composition. By far the most interesting & satisfying piece. Mid up-tempo. (2:20)
7. ** Sax leads from start to finish. An extended improv, cool and sophisticated, gradually increasing in intensity. Guitar in rhythm section. Powerful bass and drums in spots. (6:33)
8. * Starts very slow, quiet. Mellow, but a gradual crescendo for entire length. Long guitar and sax improvs. Melodic, but with interesting dissonant strangeness. Slow fade out. (12:22)