A one-time member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, David Sancious has also long had a deft touch as a solo artist, as proven by these two early albums. 1975’s Forest Of Feelings was produced by Billy Cobham.
There are times when it veers towards the Mahavishnu Orchestra and this is done with style, on an album with brilliant musicianship that is also accessible. It’s a lounge approach to jazz rock, really, and thoroughly absorbing. Transformation (The Speed Of Love) came out a year later, and has four extended tracks, each allowing the musicians of his band, Tone, ample space to supplement basic ideas with their considerable imagination, as on the impressive, 20-minute title track. Where the previous album relied on Sancious’ keyboard expertise, this one has a hefty guitar indulgence. This too is a jazz-rock journey, but under the production guidance of Bruce Botnick, it has a more rounded, adventurous grasp. At a time when jazz rock had some amazing protagonists, Sancious showed here why he was among the genre’s elite.
