Tag Archives: jimmyhaslip

Chad Wackerman & The LA All-Stars @ Ronnie Scott’s, 30 March 2026

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Over his 45-year career, Chad Wackerman has become the Mr Consistency of jazz/rock drums.

Since making his name in Frank Zappa’s 1980s bands, he has made valuable contributions to the music of Allan Holdsworth, Steve Vai, Andy Summers, Francis Dunnery and many more, showcasing a flowing, highly melodic, instantly recognisable approach to the kit. You might even call him the Elvin Jones of fusion.

But it was Wackerman’s original compositions – honed over six solo albums, the latest being Quube – which took the spotlight during this hugely enjoyable sold-out gig alongside a starry lineup of bassist Jimmy Haslip, keyboard player Steve Hunt and guitarist Alex Machacek.

And yes, this was all-original music with not a standard in sight, a pretty rare occurrence for Ronnie’s (Haslip and Hunt seemed to be reading charts). Not even Tribal Tech do that when they come to town.

Holdsworth fans will twig that three of these players are closely associated with the late master guitarist who also appeared on Wackerman’s superb 1991 debut album Forty Reasons.

Though Allan wasn’t mentioned by name, his influence towered over this music (Wackerman also contributed memorable compositions to a few Holdsworth solo albums).

‘The Fifth’ thrust us into the band’s soundworld, a subtle, elegiac half-time shuffle with dark, meaty, close-interval chords and vertical harmony. Wackerman’s feel is subtly different to those of past half-time masters Omar Hakim, Kirk Covington and Peter Erskine.

Haslip embarked on a telling mid-range solo while Machacek’s whammified chords and phrasing couldn’t help but bring Holdsworth to mind, though later in the evening he revealed more distinctive aspects.

‘Holiday Insane’ and ‘Electric City’ perfectly demonstrated Wackerman’s ‘conversational’ approach to groove playing, heavy on the ride cymbal and open hi-hats, the latter also featuring a classic Hunt Rhodes solo.

Haslip featured on the ethereal ‘Quiet Life’, his approach subtly different to fellow LA bass monster Jimmy Johnson’s from the recorded version.

Wackerman kicked off his NYC tribute ‘The City’ with a melodic solo, a mini composition in itself (Zappa’s influence?), while Hunt added vocoder to the mix and Machacek nodded to Wayne Shorter’s ‘Witch Hunt’ during his fine solo. ‘Tell Me’ stayed close to the recorded version, Machacek even dialling in a harmonizer during his solo.

Meanwhile ‘I Like Your Old Stuff’ – inspired by a fan’s post-concert comment – showed the heavier side of this quartet, a flowing, fast 4/4 which occasionally foregrounded a vicious bass/guitar riff. ‘All Sevens’ rounded things off with another superb Hunt feature and engaging group improvisation.

The affectionate reception given to this music seemed to thrill the ever-modest Wackerman. His brand of jazz/rock may be unfashionable – no political comment or social protest here – but he’s building a subtle and original body of work which benefits from close attention.

Francis Dunnery talks about his work with Chad here.

Donald Fagen: Century’s End 30 Years On

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Almost 30 years ago to the day, my brother arrived home from a Richmond shopping spree bearing strange cargo – a new Donald Fagen 12” single.

To say that this was a surprise would be an understatement. After all, it was six years since The Nightfly and the late ’80s were generally a Steely Dan wasteland apart from occasional guest spots (China Crisis, Rosie Vela, Love And Money, Yellowjackets).

‘I think we felt that a lot of the energy was missing so we kind of sat out the ’80s,’ Fagen once said.

But, in his book ‘Eminent Hipsters’, he went further, talking about ‘falling apart like a cheap suit’ towards the end of the decade, with panic attacks, antidepressants and shrinks abundant.

But at least he didn’t need the money – ‘What supported me was that when CDs came out at the beginning of the ’80s, people had to buy the albums again.’

Fagen’s movie-producing cousin Mark Rosenberg headhunted him to come up with some music for the film version of Jay McInerney’s celebrated yuppie-in-peril book ‘Bright Lights Big City’. Fagen was typically reluctant but apparently swayed by the quality of McInerney’s writing.

There was also something distinctly Steely-esque about this tale of a disillusioned twentysomething’s descent into a drug-addled, paranoid New York hell. So Fagen fashioned his version of the movie, co-writing the lyric with Timothy Meher.

There are touches of ‘Bonfire Of The Vanities’ and ‘Wall Street’ in there. AIDS too, and ‘American Psycho’ was of course just around the corner.

The opening scene finds our hungover hero lamenting the roar of the Monday-morning garbage trucks. Cut to the floor of the NY Stock Exchange, where our yuppie daydreams about a conquest of the female variety: ‘We cut to this blonde/Dancing on a mirror/There’s no disbelief to suspend….‘

The image brilliantly conjures up Marilyn Monroe on the subway grate. Madonna should also probably come to mind. ‘She’s the concept, more or less, of love in the city at century’s end…‘

Nothing and nobody is real – it’s all pose and high-concept. There’s no hope for redemption either: ‘Nobody’s holding out for heaven‘. Greed is good. But then the mystery blonde is using her ‘pirate radar’ to find a likely escort or – even better – a minor celebrity to latch onto.

But no-one materialises, so you’ll do, although you know you’re only the second choice. But still: ‘Let’s get to the love scene, my friend‘…

Musically, ‘Century’s End’ is yet another brilliant Fagen concoction, initially based around a typical minor vamp and groovy half-time shuffle groove shepherded by Yellowjackets’ ‘Jim’ Haslip on bass and drummer Leroy Clouden (submerged in one or two different bits of rhythm programming).

Michael Brecker and Lew Soloff lead the horn section, and the raft of uncredited backing vocalists sounds like it might include Patti Austin. Gary Katz co-produced the song at Chelsea Sound.

Fagen’s vocals have rarely been better – check out his phrasing in the chorus. The 12” and CD also came with ‘Shanghai Confidential’, a neat little fuzak instrumental starring Marcus Miller on bass and Steve Khan on guitar.

The movie, starring Michael J Fox, stiffed. The casting didn’t help. But ‘Century’s End’ seems to be a bit of a guilty secret in Fagen’s discography, ripe for rediscovery…