PURE MUSIC

Less rock, more jazz and r&b. But it's still interesting ..!

I was surprised knowing that the opening track "Weird Music No. 1"(5:38) has more keyboard work than previously dominated trumpet work albums - but it's still great CHASE that I have known so far. The song opens with a very nice (and smooth!) bass guitar work that brings the music in its fluent form augmented wonderfully with jazzy drum and keyboards. The trumpet quartets fill their contribution in crescendo. Drum provides nice accentuation during transition pieces. What follows is a stream of brass section work that brings the music in its peak and it suddenly stops - ... then it's continued with nice drum beats and bass guitar work. WOW man! It's a great adventure of music presented by this brass rock band. Compared to previous albums, this song tries to give more contribution in keyboard. It does not mean that the trumpets - which has characterized the identity of CHASE - has less work to do. It's still a lot and interesting. The keyboard solo is presented nicely during interlude and guitar provides rhythm section, brass provides accentuation. It's really a nice arrangement, musically.

"Run Back To Mama" (3:11) starts with trumpet quartets and acoustic guitar in the vein of Blood Sweat & Tears style. While the opening track is fully instrumental, this second track is with vocal - but not in high register notes like previous album (self titled and "Ennea"). Again, keyboard is given more chance to give its solo augmented with excellent stream of trumpet blows from four players. Bass guitar is quite dominant as well as beat keeper. The music is in a way has some R&B flavor.

"Twinkles" (7:12) starts mellow with bass guitar solo and some keyboard effects. What follows is a trumpet solo, played nicely and softly and it produces a flugelhorn-like sound. Any of you know CHUCK MANGIONE - one of the best flugelhorn players in the world? If you know him, this trumpet solo is very similar with his music style. It's a stunning solo. This is an instrumental track, delivered in jazz style - no rock element at all.

"Bochawa" (5:47) is a big band-like music in a combination of R&B, jazz and a bit of rock exploring the keyboard work infused with trumpet quartets and tight basslines. Trumpet solo performed by multi instruments in the middle is stunning. You would love this track for sure. Oh by the way .. I love the sounds of Hammond organ in the middle of this track, augmented with multi trumpets sound that accompany the Hammond. It's really a GREAT instrumental track. Guitar is also given its chance to fill the solo part.

The other two tracks " Love Is On The Way" (3:45) and "Close Up Tight" (7:36) are also excellent. My favorite is the last track which resembles great arrangements in terms of how rhythms section (bass, guitar and drums) provides jazzy style to the soloists, i.e. trumpets, and keyboards. The song structure is also excellent - it brings our emotion along with the music where all ups and downs of the music are presented in excellent way.

This album is different in style than its two predecessors. However, Bill Chase is brilliant that the change of style does not impact on the main characyeristic of CHASE music, overall. It does deliver the jazz rock fusion using brass section with more emphasize on jazz than rock - but it still paints the picture of CHASE music. Unfortunately, this band was short-lived because most of band members (including Bill Chase) died on plane crash. So tragic. But CHASE has left excellent legacy of great music everyone should emulate. I urge you to have this album in your collection. EXCELLENT. Keep on proggin ' ...!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Ennea did not repeat the commercial success of the band's debut album, due to the lack of a top 40 hit, which made Bill Chase make a few new changes is the lineup and sound department. The new additions included most notably Jim Peterik on vocals, who will be later known for his work with Survivor and their '80s hit Eye of the Tiger. But the new vocalist proved to have surprisingly little work on this album since almost 80% of Pure Music consists of just that!

Sound-wise the music had moved away from the typical early '70s U.S. big band sound and was now, for most part, pure Jazz Rock/Fusion material that most fans of the genre connect to the late '70s albums where this music was arguably at its peak. Of course Chase had not yet entirely lost their commercial aspirations and the album does feature two shorter performances where Run Back To Mama is quite a fun little track while Love Is On The Way is not so much due to its pretty obvious direction and laughable lyrics.

All of the four instrumentals on Pure Music are credited to Bill Chase which was the first time since the debut album opener Open Up Wide that he would solely be credited for the material. These compositions are easily the best moments in the band's discography with tight experimental Jazz Rock/Fusion performances that show how much the Chase had matured over the course of the previous two years. I like how Bill Chase finally went on to try the 7+ minute format that really seemed to fit the band's sound. Both Twinkles and Close Up Tight are excellent compositions well worth your attention. The former is easily this album's highlight that shows solo trumpet work from Bill Chase that definitely puts him among the best brass instrumentalists of our time.

Pure Music marks a career highlight for Chase which unfortunately would be the last one of its kind. The tragic plane crash on the way to a scheduled gig at the Jackson County Fair took the lives of Bill Chase, keyboardist Wally Yohn, drummer Walter Clark and guitarist John Emma marking the end of Chase. This event becomes even more heartbreaking when realizing that this was only the early days of Jazz Rock/Fusion and who knows what gems Chase could have offered the genre if only the band would continue on the same course towards the end of the '70s. This is definitely my favorite Chase-album and another excellent addition to any prog rock music collection.

***** star songs: Twinkles (7:15)

**** star songs: Weird Song #1 (5:40) Run Back To Mama (3:14) Bochawa (5:52) Close Up Tight (7:35)

*** star songs: Love Is On The Way (3:31)

The third and final album from this stellar group of brass rock musicians.

1. "Weird Music No. 1" (5:38) as if trying to meld several style/traditions together at once--over a kind of Spanish foundation. Weird? Yes. Remarkable. Also yes. Great (and inventive) horn arrangements with the weird synth (and keyboard) work of Wally Yohn. I love the big horn build up around the four-minute mark before backing off for bass and tubular bells to fill beneath as more weird keyboard sounds gradually join in. Interesting. (8.875/10)

2. "Run Back To Mama" (3:11) a BLOOD SWEAT AND TEARS revival/update song. (8.75/10)

3. "Twinkles" (7:12) swirling piano arpeggi with beautifully melodic flugelhorn soloing over the top. bass and drums join in in the second minute. At the four minute mark everybody backs out so that the bass player, Dartanyan Brown, can have an extended solo all on his own. The others slowly rejoin in the fifth minute, at first in support but then merging into a variation of the song's original Alice Coltrane-like motif. (13.25/15)

4. "Bochawa" (5:47) uptempo blues-rock music with weird synth and support from the band of horns. Nice horn solos between two trumpets as the other trumpets accent and support from behind. The song builds and builds in intensity into the fourth minute before a very funky Hammond organ solo takes over the lead. The horn section gradually rejoin--at first as if far in the background, but then stepping closer and closer to the front. Pretty cool stuff! Did I mention how great the bass and drums are? It seems as if everybody is screaming at the top of their volume scales in the last minute. Great horns and solos over kind of standard musical foundation. (8.875/10)

5. "Love Is On The Way" (3:45) okay vocal song probably meant to be radio-friendly. (8.5/10)

6. "Close Up Tight" (7:36) built over a funk groove from the rhythm section that sounds as if it were lifted from CHICAGO's "Introduction" from their 1969 debut album, Chicago Transit Authority. Not up to the dynamic and enthusiastic standard set by the original. I love the experimental synth sound used by Wally Yohn in his extended solo in the fifth and sixth minutes: it may, in fact, have saved the song for me! (13.25/15)

Total time 33:39

This album sounds far more commercial and radio-oriented and far less Stephen Schwartz-like.

B/four stars; an excellent addition to any prog lover's music collection--especially if you love amazingly tight arrangements of top notch brass sections.