Bushman Song

AMG Review of Bushman Song

Milo Fine
All Music Guide

On the surface, John Stubblefield and his compatriots offered a number of approaches (funk-fusion, Latin, calypso, swing) creatively rendered. But careful listening revealed an all-too-telling commercial underbelly that put subtle though damaging constraints on the music. So while the leader had a passionate tenor outing (shades of the Pharoah Sanders of yesteryear) on the Trane-influenced "East," and played some sinewy soprano on the Weather Report-like title cut and "Things," and keyboardist Geri Allen spotlighted her adept skills at imaginatively convoluting phrases over and around stated and implied bar lines (to say nothing of her solid chops overall), and the whole band illustrated solid facility as a group as well as individuals, overall, the album didn't reach the heights to which it aspired.