This CD has some of the best all-around playing by the
Mark Egan
-
Danny Gottlieb
group
Elements
. The band originally started out as a
crossover
/
fusion
group, but by the mid-'90s it was much more
post-bop
with touches of
Weather Report
and
Miles Davis
-type
. In addition to the co-leaders, the solo strength of keyboardist
Gil Goldstein
and particularly
David Mann
on soprano and tenor gave this unit its own musical personality, permanently taking it away from
into adventurous (yet accessible)
jazz
. The seven originals on this live set (six by
Egan
) serve as stimulating devices for fiery and creative solos, and the music is consistently exciting. Highly recommended, this date is an essentially unclassifiable set of modern
. ~ Scott Yanow