Over the past few months we’ve heard a lot from 70 Strong, the recent issue from the Steve Gadd Band, an electric quintet led by the now-legendary drummer and completed by Walt Fowler (trumpet, flugelhorn), Larry Goldings (keys, accordion), Jimmy Johnson (bass) and Michael Landau (guitars). This show features the cut “Desu.”
Last month Steve Gadd celebrated his 70th birthday. In his long career he has established himself as, arguably, the most influential drummer playing on the most influential songs, inheriting that mantle from Ringo Starr. “Fifty Ways To Leave Your Lover,” “Chuck E.’s In Love” and “Just The Two of Us” are only a few of the higher profile examples where his knack for what Chick Corea calls Gadd’s trademark “creative groove” show up to make a great song a classic. Deeper cuts are even more rewarding; take his tour de force on Steely Dan’s “Aja,” for starters.
Gadd has lost nothing since those hitmaking days. With 70 Strong, Gadd’s newest group, a solid collection of old hands, quietly injects confident youthful enthusiasm into the areas of instrumental music where jazz, rock and funk roughly coincide. Following up on 2013’s Gadditude but with a stronger sense of symbiosis, 70 Strong is no ‘drum clinic’ album, or an ‘ensemble album’ or a ‘great tunes’ album - it’s all of the above rolled into a solid whole. It’s a throwback of sorts, but a throwback of the best kind: the 1970s scene in New York that Gadd came into didn’t really get hung up on styles, the only question was “is it good?” and Gadd had quickly become a vital part of whatever was good then. This album could be heard as a tribute to that spirit.
