Funking It

I commented on the phenomenal bass playing of Stanley Clarke on the original Return To Forever album. This solo album entitled East River Drive is much more of a funk album, that at times strays dangerously close to the dreaded genre of smooth jazz. I bought the album on the strength of a couple of tracks that appealed to me in terms of rhythmic drive and melody, Justice's Groove and Zabadoobeede. There are also a couple of outstanding solo funk bass workouts but much of the rest is only background listening fodder. There's a lot of electonic instumentation and various gizmos attached to Clarke's bass which do give some interesting sounds and textures. I'll be honest and admit that the only names among the other musicians on the album that mean a thing to me are George Duke and Hubert Laws. There is the feel of film muisc to much of the album and a couple of the tracks are from fairly forgettable movies. All in all, an album that I retain for some nostalgic reasons but will probably only ever play selectively in terms of tracks.