The
Stanley Clarke Band moniker goes back at least as far as 1985's electro-funk-inflected
Find Out!, and picked up in earnest with 2010's eponymously titled
The Stanley Clarke Band. The only real through-line, however, is virtuoso bass pioneer
Clarke, who leads his ever-evolving bands through what are usually a stylistically varied set of songs that touch upon driving jazz-fusion, funky crossover jams, harmonically nuanced acoustic modal bop, and even forays into classical. It's a cross-pollinated vibe he championed on 2014's
Up and one he returns to with conceptual gusto on 2018's expansive
The Message. Joining him are pianist
Beka Gochiashvili (who previously played Up), keyboardist
Cameron Graves, and drummer
Mike Mitchell. Musically, each of these players are compelling in their own right, and make for a dynamic unit. While
Clarke doesn't completely grab on to one central theme here, the general tone of
The Message is one of reaching for enlightenment in what often seems like a troubling, dystopian world. It's a vibe that's largely intimated in song titles like "The Rugged Truth" and "Alternative Facts," both of which marry propulsively swinging jazz-rock rhythms with sparkling keyboard work. Elsewhere, tracks like the sprawling "After the Cosmic Rain/Dance of the Planetary Prince" and "Combat Continuum," with its spoken-word narrative about a global resistance battle against an invader with "massive unknown technology," evokes '70s prog rock conceits, just as surely as it allegorically implies more contemporary social and political concerns.
Clarke also bookends his album with two hip-hop jazz pieces featuring rapper
Doug E. Fresh, including a thrilling opening bass and beatbox homage dedicated to a handful of longtime
Clarke associates who passed away while he was working on the album, including
Al Jarreau,
Larry Coryell,
Tom Petty, and others. Interestingly, the title track, while aesthetically in keeping with fusion-influenced tone of the album, finds
Clarke stepping away from his bandmates and collaborating on a brightly atmospheric, new age-sounding ballad with synth and sound designer
Pat Leonard. Elsewhere, he dips into soulful pop balladry on "Lost in a World" with vocalists
Trevor Wesley and
Skyeler Kole, displays his adept, classical chops with a lyrical rendition of the "Bach Cello Suite 1 (Prelude)," and draws upon his work with pianist
Chick Corea for the far-eyed acoustic jazz ballad "The Legend of Abbas and the Sacred Talisman." Ultimately, while the conceptual "message" of
The Message can often seem a bit unfocused,
Clarke's music remains as crisp and inventive as ever. ~ Matt Collar