Steps Ahead

In recent days, and I 'happened again in our hands an old CD of Steps Ahead, hearing it I realized what they were innovators and how they have been important in the development of Modern Jazz.

The birth of steps ahead is the end of the 70 in particular, from the CD liner notes Steps Ahead:
"Steps Began as a part-time venture in 1979 at Seventh Avenue South, New York City nightclub", a nightclub history of those years that saw habitually playing Michael Brecker, Mike Stern, Jaco Pastorius, Bob Berg, in short, the whole ' avant-garde jazz of the time.
The first official formation of Steps Ahead, included Don Grolnick, Eddie Gomez, Peter Erskine, Mike Manieri, and Michael Brecker, sad to note that Grolnick, and Brecker are prematurely disappeared, listening to the records of this group you can 'understand how important it was the vein of composition and arrangement of Grolnick and the driving force and innovative sax of Brecker.

The band's recording history began precisely with this lineup in 1979

Smokin 'In The Pit Recorded Live in Tokyo on 15 and 16 December 1979 after a few days after the first studio debut with the disc Step by Step.

Smokin in the Pit and 'vibrant, tells of a magical, magical how the new body meetings where something, a vital spark, the enthusiasm of discovery of, in this case enhanced by the live recording. There are wonderful original alternating incursions of industry standards, as lover, introduced dall'onirico Manieri vibes that slowly let out the other musicians for a bluesy version, and consisting simply of sound and interplay, and then the explosive swing by Uncle Bob with Brecker's sax at its best. The impression of freshness and innovation and 'confirmed and crystallized from the disc recorded in the studio, that does nothing but stare in an "institutional" state of grace of these musicians.
The adventure continues in the group in 1981 with the hard Paradox recorded again from the same formation in 1980, training more 'beautiful of the steps, hear the hard paradox and Patch of Blue' experience in jazz history, and in the atmospheres shorteriane davisiane in modal herbie hancock, all jazz played up to that point and 'beautifully summarized and stored on the disc.

Something began to change in 1983 with the disc Steps Ahead, where Eliane Elias takes the place of Don Grolnick on piano, the sound of the group changes, in a sense you are entering a phase of fusion evolves, away from the fusion that feels coarse around the early 80's, something parallel to the experience of Weather Report, in a direction not ethnic but more 'rock, but always with great refinement that characterizes the band's sound, to signal the song written by Don Grolnick pools and present in this record that manages to express bassismo Gomez at very high levels.

The disc that probably marks the most 'high steps of the parable of the experience and' Modern Times in 1984 with Warren Bernhardt on piano, which replaces Eliane Elias, leaving unchanged the historical part of the group. The sound 'amazing, unrivaled in those years, and the hypnotic Ooops' something that remains in the history of music, such as Birdland Weather Report, Steps Ahead of the testimony of the musical through the 80, only the Brecker 'one of those who remain in the history of jazz, just one of those who manage to define the poetic music of a great musician like Brecker.
The steps followed the career of the group sees the gradual abandonment by the other historical components, the disk of 1986 also saw the abandonment of Erskine with the energy of musicians such as Kirkland on piano, Victor Bailey on bass and Dianne Reeves, result is' still great but in a way you can perceive that energy and creativity of the first records' out and everything is much more 'mediated and thoughtful and less emotional, on this record I want to point out the Said Something that seems a clear A remark you made tribute to Weather Report, the same rarefied and introverted.

In 1986, still a live, Live in Tokyo a disk crash, without piano, with guitar and a rhythm section explosive Stern, Darryl Jones and Steve Smith, surely the most hard 'atmosphere near rock fusion, the final act in the group of Michael Brecker , a record that marks the definitive end of the group.

The records that follow see Manieri looking for sounds 'special, 1989 NYC, 1992 Yin Yang, but now the sound without Brecker Steps Ahead, without Erskine, without Gomez and' distant and unrecognizable, only the name remains. In 1999 he released a record that brings to life the magnificent sound of the band and the joy of living, one of the concerts that followed this rebirth I was lucky enough to see him in Viareggio, with Bob Berg in one of his last appearances before the damn crash The training saw Bob Berg on sax he could not regret Brecker, Elian Elias on piano, Marc Johnson on bass, Peter Erskine on drums, Manieri on vibes, so most of the original members of the collective or rather steps. A disk that reports current events' the magical sound of steps ahead, the last act of a group that has spanned the history of jazz in the last 30 years.

On Air: Oops Steps Ahead Modern Times from 1984