Ironcladd's Full Review: Who Let the Cats Out by Mike Stern
Who Let the Cat’s Out? Mike Stern Did!
By
James Zaworski
I love jazz. Perhaps even more than jazz, I love jazz/fusion. I also love guitar. Combine these three things, and a history of music and you are bound to come up with someone who will encompass your musical tastes, and one who most likely has similar interests in music.
With that said, I love artists who range from John Mclaughlin to Pat Metheny, Al Di Meola to John Scofield, and a plethora of instrumentalists in between. Jean luc Ponty, Chick Corea, Jaco Pastorius, Stanley Clarke, Steve Morse, Miles Davis, David Sanborn, Victor Wooten, Bela Fleck, Charles Mingus, Billy Cobham, Steve Gadd, Bill Evans, Dave Weckyl, Bill Connors, Lenny White, and more, are representatives. I became very familiar with the music of Jaco Pastorius and Pat Metheny, and John Scofield. One one track of a Pastorius tune that I heard, I always thought it was John Scofield playing. I found out recently, it was Mike Stern. Since then, I bought some Mike Stern on iTunes. I purchased this, latest, Mike Stern recording, whose title is “Who Let the Cats Out?” What follows is my review of what I consider to be the highlights of this CD/recording..
“Who Let the Cats Out?”
1. Tumble Home. (8 minutes, 15 seconds)
This is the first track on the CD that attracted me. Mike Stern’s electric guitar is so clean, so jazzy, and so succinct. Unlike most guitarists, he gallantly bows out and lets another instrumentalist take the lead. In this case, he allows his saxophone player to be the lead man in the theme and first solo of this track. However, he plays along with him in perfect synchronization, and definitely takes the second solo. Mike Stern has a flow about his guitar playing that is more fluid than one of his most sure influences, John Scofield. I’m not making a comparison about ability or value judgment, but Stern really is fluid in his improvisation. Tumble home is really an outstanding jazz/fusion piece. I heard a sample of this and this is what made me decide on purchasing this CD.
2. Good Question. (4 minutes, 18 seconds).
This tune is great. The beginning theme is guitar and saxophone in a full jazz synchronization. Then Stern goes into a nice solo. He floats up and down the fretboard and jams in his own, clean right. Good Question is a feel good, jazzy fusion instrumental treat.
3. Language. ( 7 minutes, 4 seconds).
This one is quite different, in tempo. It is also different in that it has a vocalist, who has collaborated with Pat Metheny. This one is very representative of Mike Stern’s influences, Pat Metheny, in style and in tempo. He pulls it off, and makes it his own, however. The tempo stays the same, as in a fast tempo, Metheny type jazz bit. But, Stern puts his own signature on this, bending some strings here and there, highlighting and accentuating other aspects of his soloing technique, that show the listener right away that he is not a copycat. Maybe that is the meaning of the title, who let the cat’s out? (the copycats). I think that this is the answer to Stern’s critics, that Stern himself has found his own voice.
4. Texas. (7 minutes and 5 seconds).
This is a really cool track, and one that I think is among my favorites on the recording. It’s got a jazzy Texas sound, slow in tempo, and twangy too. A harmonica sound accompanies Mike’s guitar playing. It develops from a quiet introduction, to a slightly more upbeat tempo, much more clear, as the track progresses. Find nice soloing in the middle and towards the end.
5. Who Let the Cats Out? (7 minutes and 45 seconds)
The title track is so incredibly jazzy that John Coltrane or Louis Armstrong or Charlie Parker would be proud. Indeed, a nice horn helps to introduce the tune, with the guitar of Stern taking up flight, kind of like Bird himself, who must definitely be another of Stern’s influences. He floats along and flies around in intricate circles, precisely turning this way and that, in a purely logical way, then in an abstract way, and totally improvisational and unpredictable. However, no matter where he turns, you want to follow, and you do follow. There is a nice trumpet solo in the middle, reminiscent of Miles, which compliments the sentiment and feeling of the entire track. It’s jazzy, baby!
All in all, “Who Let the Cats Out?” is a completely refreshing and new piece of jazz. Mike Stern is the newest member of my musical library of jazz guitar legends. I am his newest fan. It is all because of “Who Let the Cats Out?” In this recording, I feel that Mike Stern has found, and displayed, his own voice.
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