Bireli's fusion drummers

[Andy]

I finally bought 'Inferno' by Bireli Lagrene, the album that came before
'Foreign Affairs'. Those two Blue Note recordings were B.L.'s venture
into fusion (Foreign affairs being the best representative of this genre
IMO.)

It is interesting that Bireli picked a variety of session drummers for
'Inferno': apart from his former bandmate Pierre Moerlen (Gong, Mike
Oldfield) he actually got Dave Weckl, Bernard Purdie and Danny Gottlieb
to play tracks on the album.

Compared to Foreign affairs, 'Inferno' is unremarkable and features a
fairly dull drum sound. A year later he was recording FA with Dennis
Chambers (also at RPM Studios in NYC). Now it's all sharp (music and
performances).

I was lucky to catch Bireli live on tour both with Moerlen and Chambers
in the 80s, but it's a bit of a haze! I do remember though being blown
away by the title track of FA and I still am...

Andy

[Pete Pemberton]

Post by Andy
I finally bought 'Inferno' by Bireli Lagrene, the album that came
before 'Foreign Affairs'. Those two Blue Note recordings were B.L.'s
venture into fusion (Foreign affairs being the best representative of
this genre IMO.)
It is interesting that Bireli picked a variety of session drummers for
'Inferno': apart from his former bandmate Pierre Moerlen (Gong, Mike
Oldfield) he actually got Dave Weckl, Bernard Purdie and Danny Gottlieb
to play tracks on the album.
Compared to Foreign affairs, 'Inferno' is unremarkable and features a
fairly dull drum sound. A year later he was recording FA with Dennis
Chambers (also at RPM Studios in NYC). Now it's all sharp (music and
performances).
I was lucky to catch Bireli live on tour both with Moerlen and Chambers
in the 80s, but it's a bit of a haze! I do remember though being blown
away by the title track of FA and I still am...
Andy

I am thinking the liner notes are wrong. Bernard played all the tracks!

All Your Track Are Belong To Bernard!

PP

[-MIKE-]

Post by Pete Pemberton
All Your Track Are Belong To Bernard!
PP

That's funny.