Cato Salsa Experience and The Thing with Joe McPhee ~ Sounds Like A Sandwich
The Thing is a
three-headed monster of a power jazz trio and Cato Salsa Experience are their
favourite rock band. Factor in veteran saxophonist Joe McPhee and you've quite
a party on your hands. With a total of five tracks clocking in at 19 minutes
and 51 seconds Sounds Like A Sandwich is more EP than LP. However, it manages
to pack more into its brief span than many much longer recordings. The octet
play a ragged blend of rock and jazz that might upset only the most hardcore
fan of either genre. Bookended by a couple of Cato Salsa originals are covers
of Led Zeppelin’s Whole Lotta Love, Don Ayler’s Our Prayer and
the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Art Star. The overlap between blues, rock and jazz
is clear, so it makes surprisingly obvious sense for Whole Lotta Love to host
a free jazz passage at its centre. Sounds Like A Sandwich is a highly enjoyable
exercise in bravado, exuberance and sheer fun.
Colin Buttimer
May 2005
Published by Jazzwise magazine