Compass Point

When I think about jazz I think of trumpets, horns, drums, and some electric guitar playing some blues with a kick. Over the years there have been new styles of jazz being formed, it's been sped up, slowed down, more instruments added, and different cultures have their own style jazz, so there's really no one set description of this music. Only two things really hold true for jazz, there has to be some sort of horn instrument and listening to it live is always the best way to listen to it. Which brings me to this album, Compass Point, by Billy Cobham that was recorded live at the Compass Point Hotel in 1997.

I've never heard of Billy Cobham so listening to this album, even though it's around 16 years old, it was new to me. When listening to this two disc set I would never have guessed that this album was that old. It has been recorded and transferred over very well where it sounds like it was recorded in a studio just last week. This could also be attributed to the fact that the members playing the songs actually know how to play their music well enough that they don't need to have any mixing done after it's been recorded. It's a fun CD, that is if you like jazz.

What I noticed with this only made me more surprised at the age of these songs. That is I thought it had a modern day sound to the jazz where Billy Cobham was trying to give jazz a new sound or go in a different direction with it. It sounded to me like some of the songs could have been part of a rock song, some a little pop, and they are all mixed to form this one quick beat jazz song. While listening to the songs my first thought was that this guy has some pep in his music that has given it this spicy sound. This is jazz that makes you notice that jazz is more than some dark club filled with smoke and someone playing a trumpet. It's music that you can listen to and enjoy because the people playing it are enjoying what they are playing. The songs are fun, they have a great amount of energy in them, and they kept my attention while listening. Which saying that my attention was kept is a big deal considering that there are 2 songs that are almost 12 minutes long, 1 is over 10, one is over 12, and the shortest is 6:16. These songs are long so be prepared to hear lots of jazz.