Marc Johnson
Bass Desires

Being professionally born in the court of Bill Evans is already a rare privilege for a double bassist. If the career then continues alongside personalities like Stan Getz and John Abercrombie, it means that, besides instrumental class, one possesses that versatility which is an absolute imperative for contemporary jazz musicians.

As a sideman, therefore, the young Marc Johnson already boasts a resume of absolute prestige; as a leader, he debuts with this 1986 album, and he could hardly have started better than this. "Bass Desires" is a record full of intelligence and emotions, produced with extreme care and very balanced in the wide variety of different elements it proposes.

Perhaps the most surprising fact is the ease with which this then-debuting leader manages to make such a heterogeneous pair of guitar masters as John Scofield and Bill Frisell coexist, enhancing the particularities of both: jazz phrasing sense and color research blend without the slightest flaw, supported by the sparkling drumming of one of the now senators of drumming, Peter Erskine.

On the other hand, it's certainly not the ability to refer with full familiarity to different styles and languages that this quartet lacks, between the Far East, ethereal tradition, Coltrane & company, roots & reggae; rather, sometimes it's hard to identify, among so much talent, a precise stylistic signature. And perhaps, the charm of this album lies precisely in this: jazz? Rock? Fusion? It's music of the '80s, well conceived and well played. Which, then as now, is no small feat.