THE DANCER

I really liked Gary Boyle once playing with Isotope, the specific skills and his distinctive style is surely proving a mention, alongside with John McLaughlin, Alan Holdsworth, Al Di Meola, John Abercrombie, John Scofield, to name a few other extraordinary genre guitarists. 'Dancer' is the album which initiated his solo career. Just to remark, the line up features a who is who of jazz rock and fusion. First and foremost it was the song Maiden Voyage that brought me close to this release.

I do love that version! Recorded on cassette tape from a radio broadcast some decades ago, for quite a long time I thought, it was the one produced for Brian Auger's Trinity in 1970, when Gary still was a member. Eventually though, after researching a bit, I had to recognize, that this has been recorded later, in reminiscence, additionally equipped with the subtitle 'for Brian Auger'. That means, the author is not aboard here actually, the spirit is definitely alive though, yeah!

So besides Gary on acoustic and electric guitar - now it's vital to pay attention - such a masterpiece is featuring Doni Harvey (bass), Simon Phillips (drums), Zoe Kronenberger (electric piano), Robin Lumley (moog, synths) and Morris Pert (percussion) - wow, a wonderful implementation! This does not mean, that the rest of the songs is out of order, or something like that, not at all! Here we have a crystal clear production, partially reminding of Return To Forever. If you are keen on accessible fusion stuff, you'll be on the right trip here, definitely.