Listen Featuring Mel Martin - Listen

San Francisco Bay Area saxophonist Mel Martin founded his band Listen at a time when Chick Corea's Return to Forever had mutated from their Latin roots to an electrified unit. It's clear that Martin was still clinging on to the concept of Corea's first version, and conceived his original music based on that more acoustic, tropical aesthetic. Playing mostly the curved soprano sax, Martin and his band, featuring overdubbing pianist/steel drummer Andy Narell, set forth on a mission for their fans to truly listen to the music, employing tricky time signatures that include added or subtracted full to half beats just to mix things up a bit. The excellent drummer George Marsh is more than up to this task, never wavering from his important rhythmic duties, while electric bass guitarist Dave Dunaway adds regulated repeat phrases to keep things rolling along. It's clear that "The Mosquito Steps Out" bears resemblance to Corea's "Señor Mouse" in its Spanish dialect and the bright melodic inventions you hear. The funky "Aural Hallucination," with Fender Rhodes electric piano from guest Larry Dunlap, adds color in the type of fusion that identified the late '70s, with a loose beat close to 15/8 that makes you listen closely to pick it up. The steamy 6/8 in 4/4 workout jam "Gezpacho Sabroso" features Narell's piano and Martin's tenor sax, while "At the Mountains of Madness" uses Richard Waters on waterphone, Dave Creamer's electric guitar, Narell's pan drums, and Martin's tenor sax in a John Coltrane/Chick Corea amalgam. Martin's magical flute is featured during a cooking Latin-infused part B of "A Tribute to Clark Kent; Egroeg" and on the prettiest selection of the album, "Dance for Denica," written by Creamer but not including him, with nothing forced above the ostinato bass of Dunaway. Second steel drummer Jeff Narell, percussionist Glenn Cronkhite on loan from Art Lande's Rubisa Patrol, and the exceptional percussionist Kenneth Nash join on select cuts, while Martin himself is a good, intriguing woodwind player. All of the realized potential heard on this recording can only bode well for further projects. This original Inner City LP has thankfully been reissued on CD. ~ Michael G. Nastos, All Music Guide