Suntan/In Trio

Suntan.jpg
One year after the release of Why Not?, Camilo returned ot the studio, this time in trio. Switching off between drummers Dave Weckl and Joel Rosenblatt, he was sure to get different textures of sound between piece. The album was inspired by bassist Jaco Pastorius, whose rehersal sessions would go on for hours because of the extended solos personnel would take. The groups also tend to switch up tempos and styles in the middle of tunes, mostly seen in Suntan and Cha-Cha. This album also allowed Dave Weckl to come to the attention of Chick Corea, who was at that time creating his next fusion group, the Elektric Band. Lastly, this album, as well as Why Not?, created an international stir which would later bring Camilo to the attention of Sony, setting the stage for his next album Michel Camilo.

We Three mixes Caribbean and Brazilian rhythms to create a unique blend of music. Oddly, after the melody, there is a drum solo followed by Camilo's solo, a rather creative way of rearranging the structure of solos. We immediately see here the difference in Camilo's playing from his prior album. He uses his percussive

tricks less often, and incorporating more single note lines. He also lessens the amount of times he use his triplet toccata rhythm and increases the use of his octave jumps. Camilo, tackles drummer Airto Moreira's Tom

bo in 7/4, which as the name implies is difficult because of the strenuous time signature one has to improvise over. The next two tracks, Las Olas and Cha-Cha, written by the famous Jaco Pastorius, are extend plays and improvisations by Camilo. The former is a Ballad where Anthony Jackson is given the melody on his six string bass, a one of a kind instrument. The latter, is a straight ahead material that was changed from the orignial cha-cha beat (hence the Used To Be a). This piece undergoes different modd swings before finally changing back to the orignial tempo Camilo orignally starts off as. Camilo concludes the album with Suntan, which derives from a mixture of caribbean and gospel influence. The solo section starts off modal and later start to gives hints at funk, but Anthony Jackson's bass keeps the groove in the spacy atmosphere until finally Camilo crosses over, turning the song into a blues and taking it home with his rapid triplet toccatas rhythms.

Personnel
Michel Camilo - Piano

Anthony Jackson - Bass

Dave Weckl - Drums (2,4,5)

Joel Rosenblatt - Drums (1,3)

Track Listings
1. We Three (Michel Camilo; Arnold Evans)

2. Tombo in 7/4 (Airto Moreira)

3. Las Olas (Jaco Pastorius)

4. (Used To Be A) Cha-Cha (Jaco Pastorius)

5. Suntan (Michel Camilo)