cTi ig)Yourself Comfortableand Billy Joel's stant sarcasm-she might project into sion, Ronnie Foster and Jorge Dalto on brightswipe Say Goodbye to Hollywood these songs. The result is passive and an- keyboards, and Phil Upchurch on drift into silly satires of Fifties rock & tiseptic. Too bad. Bette Midler may be rhythm guitar-Benson zings through roll. potentially the best new all-around en- eleven pieces that firmly establish his af- Empty Bed BluesandI Never Talk to tertainer to emerge in the Seventies. But finity for this particular kind of music. Strangersare curiosities. The former is a vou would never know it from her per- The real question, of course, is how gross. sexually insulting song that Bessie formances on "Broken Blossom."D.H. one feels about fusion jazz and what Smith recorded in 1928 under pressure kind of lasting value it has. Benson's gifts to maintain her record sales with inter- as a vocalist leave a lot to be desired. His pretations of suggestive material. Mid- Johnny Guitar Watson: Funk Beyond the Call of Duty.Johnny Guitar Watson, interpretations of Leon Russell'sLady ler's fabled fascination with tackiness Blueas well as the standardsOn Broad- might have made it an understandable producer.DJM Records DJLPA 714, $7.98. Tape: h DJ MC 7/4, *. DJ M8 wayandIt's All in the Gameare simply 714. $7.95. not anywhere near the special character ofThis Masquerade.His guitar work, on As the title track opens the LP with a the other hand, is absolutely stunning. standard mid -paced funk rhythm, it So good, in fact, that it raises a very real sounds like it's cliche time again. Then in question: Is the kind of music he has comes one laidback, low-down citizen chosen to play providing him with the with a tone full of evil street urbanity, kind of challenge his talent demands? I and things are never the same. think not. The slow -rocking rhythm ofIt's About I wonder, too, why his label has been the Dollar Billshould send the studio so cheap with this album. There is no funk -pumpers blushing toward the listing of tunes nor of who plays what woodshed. Its knowing view of what life solo, no liner notes, nothing that is sug- is all about makes them sound both na- gestive of Benson's prime importance to ive and frenetic and reminds us that the the Warner catalog. I wonder also about gully -low blues is where funk began. the peculiar and persistently annoying It's not that Watson is agreatsinger, use of a string synthesizer on some of the though his voice worms its way insinu- cuts. This kind of sound is a special af- atingly into your memory and stays there fectation of producer Tommy LiPuma, for days. Nor is hea greatguitarist. His but its use here (tracked in after the per- solos do their thing so matter-of-factly formance?) simply has nothing to do that you're apt not to notice how they with the live, high-energy music of Ben- Midler-ill at ease in the studio ooze with the blues that pop/r&b has son in concert. D.H. abandoned in favor of British rock & choice. but tackiness on top of tackiness roll. No, Watson's real medium is his is pushing matters a bit too far.Stran- message. InIt's a Damn Shame, it'sthe Stanley Cowell: Waiting for the Mo- gers.performed as a duet with its author perverseness of daily life in general; in ment.Ed Michel, producer.Galaxy Rec- Tom Waits. is a curious amalgam of Barn Doorit's the stupidity of working so ords G X Y 5104, $7.98. Tape: 5 5104. os 8 5104.$7.98. Waits's tawdry imitation of Louis Arm- hard to become hip; and inI'm Gonna strong and Midler's unsuccessful effort Get You Baby,it's good old lust. In every It would be hard to imagine a more to clone herself into a jazz singer.Story- track-even the couple of faintly derisive likely candidateforfusion/crossover book Children and Red areundis- nods toward conventional soul bal- prominence than pianist Stanley Cowell. tinguished numbers that receive undis- ladry-he applies the almost lost blues A brilliant technician, a superb impro- tinguished treatment. Two ballads-A philosophy. It's a compound of rather viser, and-perhaps most important of Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes and vexed humor and slightly cynical pas- all-a thinking musician, he seems to La Vie en Rose-areapparently intended sion. Unlike the tragic hero, Watson have all the necessary attributes. Yet he as interpretivepieces de resistance: they doesn't waste time shaking hisfist at has remained somewhat out of the are. instead. studies in excessive manner- fate-he's too busy slipping a banana spotlight lately, apparently content to isms. OnlyYellow Beach Umbrella. a skin under its foot. J.S.R. concentrate on his own record company, lightweight, optimistic song by Craig Strata -East, and his membership in the Doerge and Judy Henske. has the right Collective Black Artists Ensemble. production. the right style. and the right This release from Galaxy (a new label tinge of Midler acerbity. associated with Fantasy Records) repre- That Midler can sing is beyond discus- JAZZ sents Cowell's first real effort to move sion. Both her natural instrument and into the arena now populated by the her sense of how to use it are at least likes of Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea. comparable with the skills of Barbra The results are mixed. One side of the Streisand. her most obvious competitor. George Benson: Weekend in L.A. Tommy LiPuma, producer.Warner disc is devoted to solo acoustic piano But Midler. since the success of her first performances-very good ones, in fact. recording. has sounded increasingly un- Bros. 2 WB 3139. $12.98. Tape:D J 5A 3139, J8A 3139, $12.98. The other side is less appealing: a mish- comfortable in the studio. The sarcastic mash of overdubbed keyboard tracks bits of fluff that work. somehow, in her Ifthere have been any doubts that clearly intended to show that Cowell can live performances. sound silly and out of George Benson has a firm grip on the fu- run in the disco/jazz derby as well as joint on record. (Her introductionsto sion soul/jazz market, this live concert anyone. DreamandStrangersundercut whatever album should firmly dispel them. Aided The two high points of Side I are Bud value the tunes might have had.) And the by a backup group that is right at the cut- Powell'sParisian Thoroughfareand The- production gimmickery overwhelms ting edge of perfection-Harvey Mason lonious Monk's'Round Midnight.On whatever feelings-beyond her ever -con- on drums, Ralph MacDonald on percus- Continued onpage 146 142 HIGH FIDELITY MAGAZINE.