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 enlarge | Artist: Brian Blade Fellowship
Label: Verve
Category: Music
List Price: $18.98
Buy New: $9.28
You Save: $9.70 (51%)
New (48) Used (15) from $6.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 11339
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 5 x 0.5
MPN: 001069602
UPC: 602517610477
EAN: 0602517610477
ASIN: B0015MS7DO
Release Date: May 6, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Mesmerizing June 3, 2008
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
This CD and his first release are well worth getting. (I did not get the second CD yet). I am unfamiliar with the BBF but recently heard a few cuts on the radio. At first you may think you are listing to Pat Methany but after awhile this group is very versitle and pleasently unpredictable. You can listen to the whole CD without being concerned about quality. Thoughts of the Jazz Crusaders and Kenny Garrett come to mind as Brian Blade allows his band great liberty in his long pieces. I say support real jazz...support the BBF!
Intoxicatingly delicious June 2, 2008
11 out of 14 found this review helpful
Two albums in, I've learned to recognise Brian Blade's very unique sound and as soon as I heard the first few bars of the first track on this CD, the first we've heard from him and his Fellowship Band since 2000, a beatific smile spread over my face. Some hoping for some sort of musical radical departure may be disappointed, feeling that this is just more of the same but I'm as happy as a lark with it. As always, Kurt Rosenwinkel's guitar seduced me in from the word go and I was swept away right until the very last note of the final track.
More or less all the members of the Fellowship Band are present and correct: supporting Blade and his drums are Jon Cowherd on piano, pump organ, Moog & Wurlitzer; Rosenwinkel is on guitar of course; Myron Walden is on alto saxophone & bass clarinet; Melvin Butler on tenor saxophone and Chris Thomas is on bass. The only thing missing from the familiar mix is Dave Easley and his pedal steel guitar but it's a minor deficiency - if that's even the appropriate word to use - and goes practically unnoticed.
I have no favourite tracks this time around (though the unusually thumping, driving beat of "Most Precious One (Prodigy)" is the one song that made me look up from what I was doing while I was listening); the entire album is intoxicatingly delicious. Highly recommended, as are Blade's other two recordings, 1998's Brian Blade Fellowship and 2000's Perceptual.
Fantastic May 27, 2008
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
Brian Blade's group marries the thematic approach of great pop albums with the spontaneity and improvisation of jazz. The music is well written and thoughtful. The album has been in my CD carousel since it arrived. Enough said...
 Very Good, But...... May 15, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
My initial reaction was ELATION after not having heard anything new from them in about 4 or 5 years (I was lucky enough to catch them at the Village Vanguard a few years after Perceptual but long before this new CD). Well, after a week of listening to Season of Changes it started to feel/sound like an extension of Perceptual. That's not necessarily bad because Perceptual was INCREDIBLE. But there was a similarity yet a noticable difference between the Fellowship's debut and Perceptual. There's not too much difference between Perceptual and Season of Changes. I wish this CD was longer by about 15 to 20 minutes. Although that feels like a greedy thought as I was not expecting Brian Blade to ever release another CD.
Another wonderful cornerstone from the Fellowship May 15, 2008
5 out of 5 found this review helpful
This record is slower and more somber and deliberate in general than the previous two Fellowship releases. It's also missing the inspirational and atmospheric pedal steel work of Dave Easley, who was a big part of the first two discs.
But it's still a must-have and a must-listen for me. It has the instantly recognizable Fellowship vibe, which is not to be found anywhere else. This band plays with tremendous commitment and communion, and the writing is truly singular and remarkable. There's nothing else out there that sounds like this ensemble, and few efforts go as deep or feature such empathetic playing.
Brian Blade and the other players in this band have been involved in many other noteworthy projects, but this thing that they have together as a unit is special. To me, the three Fellowship records are confirming and uplifting emotional and spiritual touchstones. I frequently give them to people and hope that they can take some time out, soak the music in and give it a chance to make a difference to them.
Whether you're a musician or not, as many people have said, music has the power to change and enhance lives, and the Fellowship's body of music is right up at the top of my personal list of life changing and enhancing music. I know it's not for everyone and some people are not overly enthusiastic about it - that's OK. It reached out and grabbed me involuntarily, and I'm so glad that many others feel as strongly about this group as I do.
Keep this band working and recording, Brian. I know the economics are a challenge for a 6 or 7 piece band playing original music. But it needs to keep on being heard and felt.
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