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Music > Albums > Kenny Garrett - Beyond the Wall (2006) Retail CD
added on September 29, 2007, at 02:23 by RunawayTrane

Tracks 1, 2, 7 and 9 ("Calling", "Beyond the Wall", "Now", and "May Peace Be Upon Them") are nothing short of brilliant! This is exciting, modern hard-bop at its best, and the execution is superb. Tracks 3 and 8 ("Qing Wen" and "Gwoka") are equally brilliant compositions, superbly played, but inexcusably interrupted by irritating and cheesy vocals. The worst of these occurs in "Qing Wen" where we are forced to endure increasingly hysterical bleating approximately every 10-15 seconds for the entire song, interrupting some excellent soloing. "Gwoka" follows this repetitious pattern, albeit less frequently and with a more subdued vocal chorus. Track 4 ("Realization...") is an atmospheric piece that loops over a 2 second Tibetan chant for the duration of the song. I actually think this track works as a nice contemplative interlude, although the chanting does tend to get monotonous by the end. Track 5 ("Tsunami Song") is an out of place throwaway. The melody is pretty, but here we have Garrett playing very unremarkable piano, along with a Chinese erhu and some strings. As pleasant as it is, this tune would have been more at home on the soundtrack for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon". Finally, in Track 6 ("Kiss to the Skies") we get a glimpse of Garret's worst tendencies in some thinly disguised smooth jazz. Despite these glaring flaws, the high points on this disc are so strong that it is worthy of 4 stars. Garrett's (or his producer's) overindulgence unfortunately spoiled an otherwise masterpiece.

front 1422 x 1401 px

back 1189 x 929 px

cd 1458 x 1501 px