NIGHT PASSAGE

Night Passage is a palatable combination of semi-interesting jazz and sleep-inducing adult contemporary stylings. Pleasant? Yes. Progressive? For 1980, hardly.

Highlights: Night Passage, Port of Entry, Fast City, Madagascar. Overall, there is nothing too spectacular to be found, given the ground that fusion had covered in the previous decade. These are at least more upbeat, with some decent (though often somewhat restrained) percussion, and of course feature some great basslines from Pastorius. Now I know what the hype about this guy is for-- if the song allows (read: has a beat), he provides some great bass grooves. Overall these songs feature the horns in carrying the melody, and sometimes decent keyboard runs or hand drums are thrown in. Unfortunately, none of the melodies are especially captivating, and as a result the tunes basically run together. The exception is Madagascar, which at over 10 minutes includes too much rambling, but when it gets going for the final three minutes, you are treated to the best fusion on the album (if you've held out that long).

Dream Clock, Forlorn, Three Views of a Secret. If you want relaxing, adult contemporary to fall asleep to, this will do the trick. If you want something to get your feet tapping or grab your attention, you won't find it here (excepting the occasional irresistable fretless bass wail from Pastorius).

What we have here is a collection of decent music that settles into a familiar, and in my opinion boring, tried-and-true format for jazz. There is only one musician who displays any virtuosity, and the rest of the players really fail to deliver interesting texture or creativity. If you love Mahavishnu Orchestra or Return to Forever, be warned that this will seem very tame by comparison.