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Normally, when I am preparing myself to listen to Frank Gambale, I have to gain my composure and resolve for an overload on my senses. But, this time around with Coming To Your Senses, Frank Gambale has truly come up with some music that will delight your senses without the overload. Normally upon listening to a Frank Gambale album, I am inspired to stop playing guitar because I see the futility in the long hours of practice for me. But, this time around, Frank Gambale has inspired me to abandon all hopes of composition, as well as to stop my guitar playing. This is what truly great music is all about... disheartening the lesser-talented musicians of trying any longer! ;) The threshold of good music is raised so high that it becomes unattainable by mere mortals.

So, what is it that I find about Coming To Your Senses that is so satisfying? Well, Frank Gambale's ludicrous guitar talent is known widely; this is no secret. But, what was surprising to me about Coming To Your Senses was the attention given to thematic development and listener accessibility. Frank Gambale has tightened the reigns on this effort and pulled himself in a little ways from the extreme fusion guitar mauling that characterize a lot of his efforts. This effort has a very solid foundation in theme-oriented music with very classy, sophisticated melodies with tenuous, exploratory harmonization that really hits the mark. The music on this album is a little closer to the conventional jazz end of the compositional spectrum than the wildly explorative jazz fusion that sometimes misses with listener appeal. But, the satisfaction derived from the compromise in Gambale's flamboyent guitar mastery and a solid baseline of quality themes, is because with this music you are getting both. It is just that the guitar speed and eccentricity are not the focus, but instead more of a tool it seems.

But, don't get confused by this. Gambale still fires up some awesome playing on this album. It just takes on a different nature. The chordal arrangements and rhythms explore some really interesting and soulful ideas in harmonization. And, the harmonization explored, though very complex and intricate, achieves something very uncommon for this level of sophistication... listener accessibility. And, this is the genius in Coming To Your Senses. I think the appeal in this album will extend beyond Gambale's normal base of hardcore jazz fusion guitarists and musicians into a broader listener audience, while still keeping the respect of his loyal, educated audience... a tough juggling act to balance for any virtuoso-caliber musician... and even tougher to keep it going for an entire album as Gambale has done on Coming To Your Senses. This music will not only "wow" the guitarists, it should be pleasing to anybody who likes jazz or fusion. Gambale definitely did not drop his sweeps and other guitar stunts in his bag of tricks when he was putting this album together. But, it seems he has given thought to deploying them a little differently this time around.

Coming To Your Senses is sensible no matter what angle you approach it from. The production and instrumentation are very tactful. The composition is brilliant. The improvisation is nothing less than you would expect from Gambale, but is tightly integrated with the themes. There is a wide range of dynamics and musical ideas that are seamlessly integrated. And my pet peave, the melodic quality of the themes, is disarming when considering the harmonization it uses for a base... really jaw-dropping. This is jazz fusion at its best: complex harmonization and sophisticated composition packaged in a listener-accessible format with an extreme guitar edge. I recommend this one highly. Solid from start to finish.

~ Christopher Ruel ~ www.ChrisRuel.com ~ Chris@ChrisRuel.com

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Gambale/Hamm/Smith: The Light Beyond (CD, 59:04); Tone Center TC-40102, 2000

If I had to find patterns or echoes of another guitarist in Gambale's chordal progressions, 
breakdowns, and eruptions into vitriolic riffs of ostinatos and legatos, all being sweep-
picking showcases � I'd have to say I keep hearing Mahavishnu John McLaughlin's style 
in his Mahavishnu Orchestra daze of fusion. Listen to opening cut, "Katahdin" for 
evidence. And next track, Gambale surprises me with signature Allan Holdsworth 
voicings;  those dream-laden, chordal noodlings and odd maneuvers of scale. This gives 
Hamm room to stretch oh so mellow and expressively smooth. Gambale returns the bass 
solo an answer full of strength and passion, aflame with that picking style pioneered so 
long ago. To listen to Gambale hit high gear on a riff brings forth images of 12-fingered 
hands with an 18-inch fretboard span!

	Hamm and Smith are both monsters on bass and drums adding a huge amount 
of soul and talent all around this disc. Track four, "The Throne Of Savitar" takes me back 
to the flavor of Inner Mounting Flame's "Dance of Maya" and early Stanley 
Clarke releases like School Days with the now, long-lost, Ray Gomez going 
crazy on guitar. Excellent cut! Lotsa classic 70s distortion too, thank-you. The mid-song 
break, trance-time, lets Steve Smith do some of the best skins work I have ever heard 
from him to date. Bravo Steve-o!

	Next few trax offer solo bass, a mellow jazz, slow tune, then a drum solo. Track 
eight, "Lumpy's Lament" gets back to the "meltin'-down-the-Kenny-G-stack-o-plastic" 
kind of fusion I like with heavy beat, mean drums, and overdriven crunch Gambale used 
so well on the 1998 Show Me What You Can Do release. Great song but way too 
short! (CDs will now hold more jams than LPs did guys.)

	Remember those excellent Bill Connors' acoustic, solo guitar releases way back 
when? Gambale next offers a similarly, superb acoustic guitar vignette. It is an "intro" to 
the final cut, "Fugitive Aspirations" with reverby, full sustain, ethereal, soul-angst guitar, 
bell-like introspective bass progression, and truly sexy brushes, high hats aglistening. 
Schweet boys, that nice. Gambale excels with all his effects, channel switching, 
feedbacks, loopings, back-o-the-bridge chimings/harmonics, wow, and alien invasion 
guitar that sang to my soul like no other song on this disk. Frank, my good mate, Stu, and 
Steve y'all done darn good by me on that performance! Please fill another CD up with 
killer jams like this again! The Light Beyond is another heads-above-the-rest 
fusion experience. It's a high rollin', hard-chargin', visionary work � a musicianship 
tour de force! "Wake up ya smooth-jazz, limp-wristed, split-reed, weenies and 
smell this espresso!" Gambale, Hamm, and Smith have done it again. Wham, bam, yes 
mam!	~ John W. Patterson




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Frank Gambale, S.Hamm, S.Smith: Show Me What You Can Do (CD, 57:41);Tone Center TC40012

	I'm upfront, in the middle, and lastly a fusion fan. Why? Jazz fusion is what brought 
me into the world of prog and all the rest of it. That said, biases in the clear now, listen 
up. Gambale and the gang tear it up! Stu Hamm is Levinesque-thundering, Stanley 
Clarke-kicking bass. Vital Information's Steve Smith's drumming keeps right up when it 
gets wild and hold things together during spacey chordal splurges.
	These pros got pumped watching old Mahavishnu Orchestra videos and cranked up 
the old fusion fires. Gambale surprised me on this one. So many of his other releases 
exhibit more of that bouncy jazz with clean, fast, sweep picking and an obvious 
structured disciplined approach. This album shows he can get mean, edgy, overdriven, 
raw, and a downright awesome riff monster. Hamm is an earthquake, Smith a splinter-slingin'tornado.
	I heard McLaughlin's odd modes and moods clearly influencing "The Promise" and 
"Dangerous Curves". Tasteful harp-plucked chord progressions build in a 
Summers/Metheny/Holdsworth meshwork. Everyone gets space to stretch on "Beyond 
The Bridge" and "Sink". Stu goes bassman crazy on "Wrong and Strong". Watch out 
Manring. On "Astral Traveler" Gambale does the Eric Johnson/Satriani dance,  throws in 
a dose of his own machine gun bullet notes in a Scott Hendersonian bluesy-rock raunch, 
and deftly so at full throttle. "Tanya's Touch" sets you soul-travelin' the rain-slick, empty streets, wandering 
thru whispering snows, and then over the earth's glowing, blue-fired atmosphere. I like, I 
like.
	Find out for yourself what other nice surprises await you here. Pick this one up for 
end-of-the-millenium fusion finesse. Highly recommended.  -- John W. Patterson




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