Laying aside his usual bass guitar in favour of a grand piano, Jack Bruce here teams up with organist Bernie Worrell (one of George Clinton’s main sidekicks in Parliament/Funkadelic) for a set of atmospheric, occasionally portentous songs that promise much and sometimes deliver it. Three of the songs pick up the reference to Monk in the title, while one – Third Degree – is the Boyd/Dixon blues warhorse that Eric Clapton mangled early on in his career, but most are by Bruce with either Kip Hanrahan or Pete Brown supplying the lyrics.
Bruce’s voice is restrained and his piano playing precise, never wasteful of energy or emotion, while Worrell is on hand to add the occasional dash of colour. Together they turn in a set with more than a dash of Brechtian performance art about it, but a more modern reference would be to the heightened dramatics of Scott Walker. Hard to categorise, but if you’re in the right mood, a surprisingly good set.
Discography
The Food; The Boy; Shouldn’t We; David’s Harp; Time Repairs; Laughing On Music Street; Know One Blues; Folksong; Weird Of Hermiston; Tightrope; Third Degree; Immortal Ninth (51.32)
Jack Bruce (v, p); Bernie Worrell (Hammond B3 org). Recorded Germany, May 1995.
(CMP Records CMP CD 1010)
