Terry Silverlight: Wild!!

The versatile studio session drummer Terry Silverlight, a pioneer from fusion’s heyday, returns to his fusion roots while also embracing shuffles, funk grooves and bebop on Wild!! (TerrySilverlight.com). Joining him is an all-star cast of New York ringers including guitarists Hiram Bullock and Chuck Loeb, bassist Will Lee, keyboardists Paul Shaffer and Charles Blenzig, tenor saxophonist David Mann and special guest Edgar Winter, who contributes nasty vocals and alto sax on the funky “Brown ‘N Serve.” They groove in party-time mode on the shuffle blues opener “Sparkey J’s,” sparked by Bullock’s stinging guitar solo, while “Yo” is a surging, uptempo swinger paced by Silverlight’s brisk ride cymbal work and highlighted by Lew Soloff’s bristling high note trumpet solo. “Insane” is classic, hard-hitting old school fusion-full of challenging heads, stop-time unison lines, daredevil trading of eights and lots of thunderous double bass drum thumping in the tradition of Billy Cobham’s early ’70s work. Loeb’s sizzling, distortion-laced guitar solo on this throbbing drum-heavy number is far more aggressive and dissonant than fans of his recent smooth jazz offerings may be accustomed to, though Will Lee ups the sickness factor here with his own ugly fuzz-bass solo. The title track shifts nimbly back and forth from intense fusion to relaxed swing, as Silverlight adeptly straddles those two worlds. But for all-out drumming bravura, nothing tops “Phantom of Bebopera,” which is basically one long drum solo surrounded by orchestral punctuation. Silverlight traverses the kit in muscular fashion on this one, with double bass drum pedal flailing away madly.

Originally Published November 1, 2004