De Britse gitarist Ray Russell werd vanaf de jaren 80 bekendom melodieuze jazzrock met o.a. drummer Simon Phillips. Rond 1970 maakte hij een intrigerende freejazz-periode door, gesublimeerd op dit album uit 1970. ""Rites And Rituals" focuses solely on exploration and power. The only player holding the floor in this band was bassist Daryl Runswick. Russell was into playing the hell out of his guitar, employing effects combining scales in angular, edgy ways and trying to undo the notion of time. Drummer Alan Rushton never played slower than double-time and often threw all notions of tempo and meter into the dustbin to make room for a 'pure rhythm', one that danced alongside a soloist rather that provided his pulse. Inside the line was the deep funk groove that the horns created and Russell painted with fat, stabbing chords. The four pieces are journeys into that anger and into the question of how improvisation could engage jazz but be free of its historical entanglements." (T. Jurek, Allmusic; 4 uit 5 sterren)
Gitarist Ray Russell, bassist Mo Foster en drummer Simon Phillips, alledrie graag gehoorde sessiespelers, vormden begin jaren '80 het jazzrocktrio RMS. Men trad aan met vierkoppige blazerssectie rond trompettist Mark Isham en speciale gast Gil Evans. Dielaatste, beroemd jazzorkestleider/arrangeur, speelt hier Fender Rhodes piano. Men speelt uiteenlopend werk: van eigen stukken tot (door Evans vaak gespeelde) Hendrix-songs. Enerverende jazzrock, vergelijkbaar met Phillips' latere successvolle albums.
"Ray Russells first solo record in 14 years and, man, its good. What began as an idea for a series of duets expanded into a much grander project. From a lovely "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" with just Russell and Gil Evans (recorded in the eighties) to the out-and-out rock of "Blaize", this is a staggeringly wide-ranging album. Theres some of the free jazz-rock Russell pioneered in the sixties and seventies on "Everywhere" and in the wild guitar/drums section on the title track. But theres also a softer, tender side present on "Without A Trace" and "Wailing Wall" and a filmic quality to "So Far Away". Yet it never sounds cluttered or fragmented. Instead it moves always easily and convincingly through styles and modes. Its Russells sound that dominates but that takes nothing from the bravura playing of Gary Husband and, Russells daughter, Amy Baldwin (fabulous on double bass) or from Miles Evans touchingly emotional trumpet on "Goodbye Svengali". Jazz-rock rarely sounds this good." (Jazzwise, Duncan Heining)
Onze website en deze zoekfunctie is vernieuwd en we werken er op dit moment hard aan om de laatste puntjes op de i te zetten. Mis je bepaalde functionaliteiten, dan vind je hieronder tijdelijk nog de link naar oude zoekfunctie.
