[TR24][OF] Didier Lockwood - Didier Lockwood Live In Montreux (Remastered) - 1980/2015 (Jazz-Rock, Fusion)

Released at the time in Europe by MPS and in the U.S. by the now-defunct Pausa label, the music from violinist Didier Lockwood's 1980 Montreux Jazz Festival set is in both cases out of print. Lockwood, who can play like Stephane Grappelli, here opts for fusion in a sextet that also includes tenor saxophonist Bob Malach and keyboardist Jan Hammer. Lockwood's unaccompanied "Four Strings Bitch" is a highlight of this well-played date.
The 1980 Live in Montreux presents Didier Lockwood at his fusion best. He has multi-Grammy winner Jan Hammer (Mahavishnu Orchestra, music for Miami Vice) along for the ride, as well as the intense, soulful American saxophonist Bob Malach. On Fast Travel, the group performs up-tempo musical legerdemain as first Malach, then Hammer, and finally Lockwood pull out their bag of tricks. Flyin’ Kitten radiates a bouncy melodic rock-inflected ambiance, while Ballade des Fees portrays a haunting, wispy fairytale. With its infectiously gamboling 2-beat feel, there’s a folkish quality to Zebulon Dance; Lockwood’s plucked violin and Hammer’s guitar-like synth explorations are highlights. Four Strings Bitch shows off the violin’s willful eccentricities in a virtuoso one-man performance that ventures from classic and bluesy acoustic play on through to electronic experimentation.