RECORDINGS

BIG DRUM REVIEWS Big Drum BUELL NEIDLINGER QUARTET K2B2 Records 3069 VINNIE COLAiUTA: dr BUELL NEIDLINGER: bs MARTY KRYSTALL: tn sx HUGH SCHICK: tpt Big Drum; Ming's Visit; Buejerk; O.P.; Tienanmen Bop; Brilliant Corners; El A; Sam's Blues   STING Ten Summoner's Tales VINNIE COLA!UTA: dr DAVID SANCIOUS: kybd DOMINIC MILLER: gtr STING: YCl, bs It I Ever Lose My Faith In You; Love Is Stronger Than Justice (line Munificent Seven); Fields Of Gold; Heavy Cloud No Rain; She's Too Good For Me; Seven Days; Saint Augustine In Hell; It's Probably Me; Shape Of My Heart; Something The Boy Said; Epilogue (Nothing 'Bout Me)

Those who have followed Vinnie Colaiuta's career through Zappa, Gino Vanelli, the Los Lobotomys album, Tom Scott, and Chick Corea already appreciate his versatility. These two recent releases exemplify the extreme ends of the musical spectrum but still highlight a style that is unmistakably Vinnie's. Except for the somewhat pat "If I Ever Lose My Faith In You," Ten Summoner's (as in Gordon Sumner's) Tales' Iyrics reveal a lighter, sardonic side of Sting. Vinnie complements Sting's humor and infectious, twisting melodies with sly rhythmic turnings such as the halfnote cymbal bell ride that "reverses" in every other halftime 7/4 bar of "Saint Augustine In Hell," but plays it straight and simple for the sincere oath in "Fields Of Gold," driving in the powerSouthern shuffle of "She's Too Good For Me," and with suppressed urgency in the silky, soaring 5/4 of "Seven Days." Contrasting the unified designs of Summoner's Tales, live recorded Big Drum's foray into avant garde jazz spotlights the musicians' existential agendas, which seem to intersect and diverge by happenstance. Vinnie's technique explodes on every tune, as on the stuttering, lightening fast Latin "El A," in the relatively structured arrangement of Monk's "Brilliant Corners," and in his rare brush work on "Tienanmen Bop" and "Ming's Visit." Alternately anchoring the chaos and detonating the calm, he balances the soloists' intensity-and frequently their time-always propelling the work forward. Those who have mistaken Vinnie's masterful grasp of context with studio chameleonism can hear in these supremely diverse settings his deadcenter, clean single sticking and intricate, creative subdivisions-and a crystal clear musical identity that not merely supports each performance, but makes it bigger than the sum of its parts. (K2B2 Records, 1748 Roosevelt Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90006-5219, [213/ 732-1602) · Rich Watson

BIG DRUM REVIEWS