Michael Shrieve, drummer for Santana for seven years, and who has also played with Pete Townshend, John McLaughlin, Stevie Winwood, The Rolling Stones and others, has released Two Doors: 19 tracks of hard jazz/rock fusion and driving, exploratory jazz. Two Doors, two styles, two sessions: "Deep Umbra", the first eight pieces, recorded in 1995 with Shawn Lane on guitar and Jonas Hellborg on bass: the remaining pieces, entitled "Flying Polly", with the excellent Bill Frisell on guitar and Wayne Horvitz on organ. Shrieve recorded an album, Fascination, with Frisell and Horvitz in 1993, and these are unreleased tracks from these sessions.
The music is not just about drums: if the drums are the fire and energy behind the music, then the guitars and keyboards are the electricity and spark. Both "sides" of the recording are ensemble works: each musician, each instrument woven into a searching adventure of sound.
The recording is powerful, pulsing, pushing: raw, strong, stylish--and complete. It's like the musical, liquid essence of all that is metal: yet it's delicate and pure. Take the track "Locomotion", an unstoppable engine with silver wings. The only question I have: how come Shawn Lane on "Caress of Lillith" (my favorite track) sounds more like Bill Frisell than Bill Frisell?
If you like rock, if you like jazz, either, or both, I think you'll enjoy Two Doors - very much; I know I do!
