The Stranger's Hand: Liner Notes
 The
Stranger's Hand (Tone Center 4005) is a
remarkable confluence of the musical energies
embodied in the talents of four musicians, who
came together for nine days in the fog-shrouded
hills near San Francisco with a common goal of
making music.
This one-time meeting of
kindred musical spirits -- drummer Steve Smith,
violinist Jerry Goodman, bassist Oteil Burbridge
and keyboardist/harmonica wonder Howard Levy --
is an explosion of kinetic forces barely
contained in the microgrooves of this CD.
"We'd never met, or played together, before
this recording date," explains Steve. The idea
behind the recording session was -- like Steve's
other Tone Center projects -- to create an album
of music composed spontaneously in the studio,
with no preconceptions or pre-arranged charts.
Each musician brings impeccable credentials
to these sessions. At the forefront (or rather,
behind the drum kit) is Steve's incredible
drumming. One of the most respected trapsmen on
the planet, Steve combines technical brilliance
with a fluid, adaptable style and a sensitivity
for the musicians with whom he keeps company.
Over the years, he's leant his indelible style
to a diverse group of internationally-hailed
artists: Jean-Luc Ponty, Ahmad Jamal, Steps
Ahead, prog-rock guitarist Ronnie Montrose, and,
of course, rock supergroup Journey, with whom he
toured and recorded for eight years. Steve also
founded the jazz-fusion ensemble Vital
Information in 1983, which remains one of the
leading fusion groups performing today.
In his late teens, Jerry became one of the first
musicians to go "electric" on violin as part of
The Flock. In the 1970s, Jerry teamed up with
John McLaughlin, Jan Hammer, Billy Cobham, and
Rick Laird to form the now-legendary Mahavishnu
Orchestra. Since the dissolution of the group,
Jerry has been a member of the Grammy
award-winning band, Shadowfax, and is currently
a member of the Grammy-nominated instrumental
rock band, the Dixie Dregs. His unmistakable
composing and playing style can also be heard on
numerous recordings, motion pictures, and
commercials.
Oteil, an award-winning
bassist, has logged eight years with the
Aquarium Rescue Unit and recorded with the likes
of Gregg Allman, Victor Wooten, and Trey
Anastasio and Jon Fishman of Phish. In June,
1997, Oteil joined the Allman Brothers as a
full-time member in this august Southern-rock
group.
Last -- but hardly least -- Howard
has appeared on more than a hundred albums, and
has won both a Grammy and a Joseph Jefferson
Award, the latter for "Best Original Music for a
Play." Known in musical circles far and wide as
a gifted multi-instrumentalist, he's been a
pioneering member of banjoist Bela Fleck's
genre-bending jazz group, The Flecktones, and
has toured and recorded with artists as diverse
as Kenny Loggins, Dolly Parton, Styx, Paquito
D'Rivera, and John Prine, lending a dazzling,
innovative, fully chromatic style to the
standard 10-hole diatonic harmonica, essentially
revolutionizing harmonica technique and taking
the instrument into exciting new territory.
The energy each musician brought to these
recording sessions - and what, together, they
created
in the span of a few days - is reflected across
all 10 tracks of The Stranger's Hand.
Jerry's skittering, swing-with-an-edge violin
kicks off "Brick Chicken," the first track on
The Stranger's Hand, moving quickly into a
rock-heavy groove reminiscent of his younger
days with McLaughlin's seminal Mahavishnu
Orchestra, which defined "fusion" more than a
quarter-century ago. Jerry tears this one up;
once he hits his solo, it's almost impossible to
imagine these sounds coming from a violin, and
not an electric guitar. And the propulsive
groove is downright infectious.
"Sufferin'
Catfish," the bluesy, gospel-tinged number-two
track on the disc, was a previously unrecorded
piece from Howard, who also contributed two more
tunes to the sessions: the sizzling "Caliente,"
and the album's penultimate track, "Moonchild,"
written for his son. "Catfish" showcases
Howard's keyboard playing (next to Jerry's
slippery acoustic violin), which comes as a
surprise to fans long familiar with his harp
work for Fleck and Canadian chanteuse Holly
Cole.
"Howard never really gets featured
as a pianist on other recordings," notes Steve.
"For these tunes, we wanted a more organic sound
than synthesizers, so we used piano and the
classic Fender Rhodes," which Howard takes to
the wall on "Caliente."
"Glimmer of Hope"
has its roots in Jerry's days with McLaughlin's
Mahavishnu unit. Its 11/8 timekeeping and
eloquent phrasing are a clarion call to higher
aspirations, steadily ascending throughout the
scorching, incendiary solo midway through the
track.
The drummer gets some on "Four
Four and More," built around a series of implied
metric modulations: imposing different meters
over a 4/4 time signature, speeding up or
slowing down the tempo and playing with -- and
within -- the subdivisions of the beat. There's
a strong influence of Indian drumming alongside
more familiar polyrhythmic jazz techniques
reminiscent of drum masters Elvin Jones and the
late Tony Williams. "Four Four and More" takes
it even further out.
"Pinkey's Revenge"
takes its cue from the funk rhythms of "Four
Four and More," and becomes a drum-and-bass
showcase with Oteil and Steve exchanging ideas
based loosely on the latter tune, and Oteil
laying down some serious vocalizing atop his
bass solo. The laid-back, 3/4 beat that
underscores "Elvin" (Steve's tribute to the
legendary drummer of John Coltrane's seminal
quartet of the 1960s) and the rapid-fire pace of
"Going Up!" both emerged from spontaneous jams
between Steve and Howard during the recording
sessions. "Elvin" was later filled out with
noteworthy contributions from Jerry and Oteil.
Closing the disc is the impressionistic
title tune, which begins with Steve's tribal
drumming and Howard's masterful pennywhistle,
which yield to Jerry's hypnotic, mesmerizing
violin. Soon enough, though, that gentle bowing
yields to some of the most electrifying sound
ever to emerge from four strings, underscored by
Oteil's fat bass lines, Howard's freight-train
harp, and Steve's richly-textured, complex
drumwork.
-- Liner notes by
Wayne Saroyan
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