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14 Oct, 2014
The lineup on Timeless consists of Gemmill on tenor and soprano saxophone, synthesizers, electric keyboards and acoustic
piano, Cozzetti on electric keyboards, acoustic piano and trumpet, Steve Bartlett on electric bass and Fred Taylor or Bob Merrihew
on drums.
The material on Timeless ranges from fusion to post-bop. There is plenty of rock and funk muscle on "Captain Pike,"
"Blue Jay," "For the Rock Artist" and "Cyclops," whereas Cozzetti & Gemmill favor more of a post-bop
approach on "Contemplating Raindrops" (which has a strong John Coltrane influence), "Colony Four" (another Coltrane-minded
offering), the Asian-flavored "China" and the Wayne Shorter-ish title song of Soft Flower in Spring. Meanwhile, Concerto
for Padre's title track combines some McCoy Tyner-ish moves with a healthy appreciation of European classical music.
"Captain Pike's" melody is not unlike something tenor/soprano saxophonist Wayne Shorter and acoustic pianist/electric keyboardis
Joe Zawinul would have done when they were co-leading Weather Report, one of the great fusion bands of the 1970s. "Cyclops," however,
is much closer to something trumpeter Miles Davis would have done during that era. Davis, of course, was quite influential in different styles
of jazz, from bebop and cool jazz to modal post-bop to fusion. And on "Cyclops," the Davis that influences Cozzetti & Gemmill is
the electric fusion Davis of the 1970s. Cozzetti's trumpet playing on "Cyclops" is mindful of Davis, and the melody is equally
mindful of him.
"Tree Leaves" is a swinging yet melodic post-bop track that is very much in the vein of Coltrane and tenor/soprano saxophonist
Pharoah Sanders, who was part of Coltrane's group during the last few years of Trane's life and has also, enjoyed considerable
success as the leader of his own groups. Think of the more ethereal side of Coltrane and Sanders (Trane on "My Favorite Things"
in 1960, Sanders on "Thembi" in the early 1970s), and one can get an idea of where Cozzetti & Gemmill are coming from on
"Tree Leaves."
At times, the synthesizers on Timeless sound dated. Listening to Gemmill's synths on "Blue Jay," for example, there is no
doubt that the tune was recorded in the early 1980s. But sounding dated isn't necessarily a negative thing if one holds a particular
era in high regard. A lot of great music came out of the 1980s, and the fact that Gemmill's synthesizer playing on "Blue Jay" says
"early 1980s" in no uncertain terms is nothing to be ashamed of.
No less than 47 years have passed since Bob Cozzetti & Tim Gemmill first met in Seattle. They met in 1967, going on to enjoy
a long and productive working relationship on both the East Coast and the West Coast. And this engaging reissue demonstrates that
when the two of them left the East Coast and moved back to Seattle, their creativity didn't suffer a bit.
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Alex Henderson