LAST CHAPTER OF DREAMING

An interesting project led by two Israelis who started playing together in 2007 in Israel, but beginning with their debut album in 2009 they have been based in Chicago and have left quite the mark on that city's live scene. These guys play a ton and in fact they try to replicate what they do on stage in the studio when they record, live of course. Hundreds of shows every year mean that this is a band to check out if they are ever in your area. Eleven studio albums in fourteen years with the duo(guitar/sax) adding and subtracting musicians as they go.

A couple of former Pat Metheny Group members have been involved with this band starting after their 2009 debut was released. Metheny's former rhythm section have been playing many live shows with MARBIN and also playing on their studio albums like here. Essentially they are a four piece here with about 15 guests adding stuff. Fourteen tracks over 55 minutes. Tracks are between 2 and 5 1/2 minutes.

Funny but this record feel like a Prog Rock album with sax as opposed to a Jazz record with Rock tendencies. Does it matter? I'm just not feeling it with this album despite the impressive playing. Two tracks stood out in "The Ballad Of Daniel White" and the self titled closer. I prefer the sax more on those two, and understand that this is soprano sax so it can be a challenge. Guitar and sax are the solo instruments here and the chosen instruments of those two Israelis when they first got together in 2007.

Good album but not a keeper in my opinion. They have some interesting recurring themes on their album covers and I do like the cover art here.