BAND X - Best Of Band X LP (RSD 2024)

RSD 2024

Limited edition of 1000 copies.

"With its tongue in cheek title, The Best of Band X (there had been no previous Band X releases) snuck into the record racks in 1976, the first the world was to hear from musician/producer/writer/arranger (and later all-American hero) Craig Peyton. Fitting in somewhere between contemporaries like Weather Report, Headhunters and Stone Alliance, Craig Peyton definitely ploughed his own musical furrow even in an exceptionally fertile era. Originally a jazz drummer and vibraphonist, Craig was interested in utilizing the potential of some of the new synthesizers that were coming onto the market in that era, (beating even Stevie Wonder to the use of the Fairlight keyboard). Band X consisted of Alan Grzyb, Victor Preston and Joey Bellomo alongside their auteur, Craig Peyton. Despite being, broadly speaking, ‘jazz’, Craig’s music had a synthetic feel and, like many musical conceptions of the future, sounds decidedly retro-cool today. Drummer Bellomo contributed synthesizer work, and horn-player Grzyb also contributed keyboards. Bass-man Preston also played trombone, and alongside Grzyb’s bassoon and clarinet and the assorted electronics, it was not your standard jazz ensemble. Quirky song titles (some of which wouldn’t sound out of place on a prog-rock album from the same time) confirm the image we have of a musical maverick. Much of the current demand for this very hard to find album owes itself to DJ Amir’s championing of the track Home: many have remarked on its similarity to the classic Steely Dan sound of the same era; other reference points might be Shuggie Otis and Michael Franks. It’s a poignant, floaty and ultimately unique song, with Craig providing the ‘blue-eyed’ vocal, as he does on the other vocal track Afterthought, which also sounds like it could’ve happily lived alongside Shuggie’s Inspiration Information album. A vocal and a lively slice of sequencer space-funk with some truly trippy keyboard work, here’s another track with loads of potential for contemporary appreciation."

Little known (and very rare) Boston area progressive jazz rock album from 1976. Quite different, as there is no guitar and the keys are not the central piece. Instead, we have electric vibes, clarinet, bassoon along with bass and drums and occasional piano. Hard to pin down as it has elements of free jazz, jazz rock , progressive rock and they transition very smoothly from one to the other within the same composition. A lot of group improvisations, which is a plus, especially in the context of free jazz. Doesn't sound like anything I've heard , it's very refreshing and full of surprises.