March 1998

Count Basic
Live
Instinct Records

By Tony Green

On a considerably more conservative tip, there's Count Basic, the ultra smooth retro- soulsters who are best read in context. Drop them onto smooth jazz radio and they sound like the funkiest, hippest folks around (after all, as someone once told me, it only takes a penny to be richer than someone who's broke). Read against the legions of folks who've been working the funk-soul field for years (or in the case of someone like Maceo Parker, since the very beginning) they blend into the scenery. Their latest, Live (Instinct Jazz, Ex364-2 67:18) features some pleasant moments, most courtesy of Defunkt-er Kellie Sae's vocals (it'll be a cold day in hell before guitarist leader Peter Legat lights a fire under you), but after hearing how well the...say Earth Wind & Fire, War, the Ohio Players, P-Funk, or any number of original and retooled old schoolers still kick it, it's hard to get overly excited.