Release : Eddie Gale - Afro Fire
Artist : Eddie Gale
Album : Afro Fire
Genre : Jazz
Source : CDDA
Label : Intuition
URL :
Date : 06-15-2004
Encoder : LAME 3.97 / -V2 --vbr-new
Quality : 182kbps 44100 kHz Joint Stereo
Tracks : 7
Time : 37:44 min
Size : 48.97 MB
1 Welcome To Silicon Valley 3:23
2 Free You - Free Me 4:56
3 Inner Peace To You 6:05
4 Afro-Fire 6:44
5 New York After Hours 6:20
6 Route 95 4:23
7 Tribal Future 5:53
In the 60s, Brooklyn-born Eddie Gale's trumpet graced recordings by Cecil Taylor
(Unit Structures), Larry Young (Of Peace and Love), and the Sun Ra Arkestra
(Secrets of the Sun, On Jupiter). Wrapping up the decade with a couple of solo
albums for Blue Note (Ghetto Music and Black Rhythm Happening, both of which
were reissued by Black Beauty's sister label Water last year), Gale then
disappeared into the woodwork for the next three decades, occasionally emerging
for live recordings with Oakland's hip-hopping The Coup or to lend a lip to
Bicasso's Living Life Lookin' Out (LLCrew, 2001). Now, over 35 years later, San
Jose's "Ambassador of Jazz" returns with his first new recordings since 1992's A
Minute with Miles semi-tribute. From the upbeat Latin-flavored salsa tribute to
his home stomping grounds, "Welcome To Silicon Valley" (imagine an instrumental
version of Buster Poindexter's "Hot Hot Hot") and the smooth, funky tribute to
former boss Sun Ra ("Free You-Free Me") to the refreshingly laid-back vibe of
"Tribal Future," it's a welcome addition to the collections of any aficionado of
hot-blooded, cool-tempered music, be it rock, jazz, or otherwise.
While purists may balk at all the synths and rhythm tracks, I think they
symbolize how Gale has changed with the times and embraced the new technology,
allowing him to be both economical (David Hayden is credited with bass, synth,
and rhythm programming) yet contemporary. Besides, how can anyone living in
Silicon Valley object to synthetics?
Gale's muted playing on "Inner Peace to You" is in top form, including a nifty
little appropriation of Al Hirt's familiar theme to the old "Green Hornet" TV
show. The album's catchy title track features faux orchestration from Chet
Smith, and will once again have your happy feet donning dancing shoes. The
ominously sexy yet hesitantly cautious "New York After Hours" effectively
captures the allure of the city that never sleeps, perhaps better than anything
since Bernard Herrmann's Taxi Driver soundtrack. And anyone who has ever
traveled on "Route 95," the main North-South interstate on the East Coast, will
enjoy Gale's colorful traveling music, the snappy rocksteady groove of which
will surely ease the frustration of whiling away the hours in bumper-to-bumper
traffic. Finally, I can't think of a cooler, more refreshing way to end a steamy
summer day than succumbing to the serpentine charms of the smoothly exhilarating
"Tribal Future." Afro Fire is a welcome return to the spotlight for this vastly
underrated and criminally under-recorded horn player.