Barry Miles - 1972 - Scatbird

Barry Miles

1972

Scatbird

01. Scatbird

02. Suburban Shuffle

03. Life-Cycle

04. Arrows And Eagles

05. Skeleton Dance

06. Latina

07. First Love

Bass – Frank Tusa

Drums – Terry Silverlight

Guitar – John Abercrombie

Piano, Electric Piano – Barry Miles

At the center of this album are the keyboards, a funkier electric setup at the start of the album and boppish acoustic later, the playing on these being rather "choppy" as the tempos often come close to what Keith Emerson used to practice in his days. The guitar playing of John Abercrombie doesn't really do much for me - the usual linear, arpeggiated licks through an occasional pedal. Yeah, never heard this approach before. The thing that differentiates this album are the cool scat vocals, all three tracks with the vocal arrangements "Scatbird", "Skeleton Dance" and "Latina" are my favorites here. "Skeleton Dance" in particular stands out with gorgeous floating melody lines and exceptional phrasing of Miles. The soloing on the track does seem a bit stretched though, they could've trimmed a few minutes from its 9 and a half minute span and it would've been even better IMO. The only fully electric track that does something for me is the intense modal jam of "Life Cycle", but again, I prefer the sharp and neurotic phrasing of Barry Miles on his Rhodes to the redundant fuzz guitar lines. Not essential material, but it has grown a lot on me since my first listen.