Finally a review of a straight-ahead jazz record on jazz-not-jazz. Although the members of Solar (Eli Yamin (piano), Adam Bernstein (bass), and Andy Demos (drums, sax, percussion) have been playing together since the late 1980s, they have just released their debut album Suns Of Cosmic Consciousness.
As I’ve mentioned in my article about Alice Coltrane my love for instrumental jazz wasn’t there from the beginning but something I’ve acquired over the years. And records like Suns Of Cosmic Consciousness remember me why I began to fall in love with instrumentals. Here you have a great mixture of raw energy, talented musicians and audible joy of the musicians playing their music.
Listen to the album’s opener Samba De Aztac for example. This original composition by Adam Bernstein bursts with energy thanks to Andy’s drum playing and Eli’s memorable piano lines on top.
Reincarnation 1968 takes you on a more spiritual trip with its Hare Ram chants, while the cover of Charles Mingus’ Remember Rockefeller At Attica from his Changes One album (1975) starts with a wild piano intro before turning into a swinging track that features great bass playing by Adam Bernstein.
Bernstein’s own In, Out is a slow, late-night jazz tune with fine interaction of bass, piano an brushworks.
Waltz On The Hudson, composed by Eli Yamin, is a very pleasant mid-tempo track that also gives way to solos of the three Solar musicians. A perfect tune for starting a lazy Sunday at home.
Monk’s Rhythm-a-ning gets a groovy remake with plenty percussion by Andy Demos. Kurt Weill’s September Song, intended by the group as a memorial to the tragedy of 9/11, captures perfectly the sadness and confusion that is related to this date.
Original compositions like Perk Up - For Walter Perkins or Prototype For Constructive Dialogue are further proof of Solar’s tightness and musical understanding as a band.
There’s also one funky vocal track here. Come On, a cover of the Earl King song, features Eli Yamin singing over some fierce, wicked bass playing by Adam Bernstein.
One of my favourite songs on Suns Of Cosmic Consciousness is the album’s last track, an emotional touching cover of Sun Ra’s Love In Outer Space.
To sum it up, Suns Of Cosmic Consciousness is the perfect album if you’re looking for a pure jazz album you can play over and over again and that let’s you discover new aspects with every listening.

Tracklisting of Suns Of Cosmic Consciousness: 1. Samba De Aztac/ 2. Reincarnation 1968/ 3. Remember Rockefeller At Attica/ 4. In, Out/ 5. Waltz On The Hudson/ 6. Rhythm - a - ning/ 7. Perk Up - for Walter Perkins/ 8. September Song/ 9. Prototype For Constructive Dialogue/ 10. Solar 2002/ 11. Come On/ 12. Love In Outer Space | released 2005 by Solar/Aztac Records

For more infos visit cdbaby.com, eliyamin.com and adam-bernstein.com.

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