Nov. 21, 1977 review: CBS All-Stars at the Century Theater

 

From the mists of history, an obscure date by a forgotten convocation of memorable players. 

Nov. 21, 1977

CBS All-Stars Show

Strength, Weakness

Of ‘Super’ Groups 

          Put enough outstanding performers together and the outcome is bound to be entertaining. That’s the old all-star theory and musically it’s an idea whose time has come.

          First were jazz festival jams with everybody sitting in. Then record labels gathered their own people in a group under the company banner. Finally, musicians themselves adopted high-quality companions, like Herbie Hancock and the V.S.O.P. quintet.

          Like V.S.O.P., the CBS All-Stars are the result of a jazz festival join-up – Montreux last summer. Unlike V.S.O.P., which continued intact, the All-Stars boiled down from a monster orchestra (with Maynard Ferguson among the trumpets) to a basic corps of five.

          As for origins, the stars are split. One side is studio jazz-rock with former Brecker Brothers guitarist Steve Khan and the man who crossed jazz saxophone over to pop, Tom Scott.

          On the other, there’s club and concert jazz in the persons of bassist Alphonso Johnson, drummer Billy Cobham and Cobham’s keyboardman, Mark Soskin. Together in the Century Theater Saturday night, they managed to illustrate the glories and the pitfalls of the all-star scheme.

          The liberating factor was exemplified by Scott, who easily blew away his cool commercial image on soprano saxes laced with special effects.

          This being a mighty quintet, they occasionally worked wonders – supercharging Khan’s bouncy “Some Punk Funk” with massive rhythmic torque and Scott’s doubling of Khan’s guitar theme.

          And sometimes they dropped the ball. Scott failed to connect properly with Johnson’s bass in doubled lines in Johnson’s “Bahama Mama.” The beat was askew too.

          The neglected player was Cobham, walled in by a fortress of tuned drums until near the end, when he got to unleash all his tones and riffs in an extended solo in Scott’s “Mondo.” From the balcony, he could be seen grinning broadly.

     

     Missing was another all-star factor – hordes of adoring fans. The show was the second-biggest secret of the week (Grover Washington Jr. at Buffalo State College the same night was the biggest).

          They also should have gotten the heat turned up. The result was plenty of good but chilly unreserved seats for a crowd of less than 1,000. Many had to wait outside past the scheduled starting time because opener Narada Michael Walden’s equipment didn’t arrive until 7.

          As penalty for being late, ex-Mahavishnu Orchestra drummer Walden’s septet played an abbreviated set. It was just long enough to touch the upbeat (with flashy saxophone by Nona Jean Bell) and the spiritual, both of which worked toward the same trance-like destination.

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IN THE PHOTOS: Tom Scott in 1977 and Billy Cobham behind that massive drum kit. 

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FOOTNOTE: Tom Scott was running on star power after ascending a few years earlier with the L.A. Express. He appeared on all those Joni Mitchell albums we love from mid-70s and that’s his sax solo on Paul McCartney and Wings’ hit, “Listen to What the Man Said.” He went on to be a founding member of the Blues Brothers Band. Come May 19, he’ll celebrate his 75th birthday.

          As for Billy Cobham, his Wikipedia page gives a full inventory of that drum kit: “ … two Fibes bass drums, a custom Duffy snare, two flared-shell rack toms by North Drums, four Fibes rack toms, two Fibes floor toms, two gong drums by Duffy customized by (his drum roadie), a hi-hat, five Zildjian cymbals and one hanging 36-inch gong.” The day before Scott’s birthday next month, Cobham will turn 78.

          The CBS All-Stars pop up as the CBS Jazz All-Stars on Google, but only because of that Montreux jam, which Scott was not part of. This band does not appear on the career resumes of either Scott or Cobham. Forgotten, indeed.