Steps Ahead - Steps Ahead (1983 US Elektra Musician Vinyl LP)

Steps Ahead - Steps Ahead | Vinyl LP, 1983 US Elektra Musician (9 60168-1)

• The US debut of one of the defining contemporary jazz groups of the 1980s: Michael Brecker on tenor saxophone, Mike Mainieri on vibraphone and synthesizer, Eliane Elias on piano, Eddie Gomez on bass and Peter Erskine on drums
• Seven tracks including Don Grolnick’s eleven-minute “Pools”, with compositions contributed by every member of the group and a closing free improvisation for trio
• Original US pressing, recorded and mixed at the Power Station by James Farber, mastered at Masterdisk, all-analog chain

Steps Ahead had already recorded three albums in Japan under the name “Steps” (the name was changed due to a conflict with another group). This 1983 album was their US debut, and the lineup had changed from the Japanese recordings: Peter Erskine, who had just left Weather Report, replaced Steve Gadd on drums, and Eliane Elias, a young Brazilian pianist largely unknown outside of São Paulo, replaced Don Grolnick on piano. Brecker, Mainieri, and Gomez continued from the original group. The result is a quintet in which every player is a distinctive soloist and a responsive ensemble musician, and the balance between the two is what makes the album work. Brecker’s tenor is the most prominent voice, but Mainieri’s vibraphone and synthesizer (the “synthivibe”) add textures that give the group a different tonal palette from a conventional saxophone-led quintet.

“Pools”, written by Grolnick (who remained the group’s composer despite no longer being its pianist), opens the album at over eleven minutes and is the most expansive piece. Mainieri’s “Islands” and “Skyward Bound” are more concise. Gomez’s “Loxodrome” gives the bassist a compositional spotlight. Erskine’s “Northern Cross” reflects his own writing sensibility. “Trio (An Improvisation)” closes the album with Brecker, Gomez, and Mainieri playing freely. Eddie Gomez, who had spent eleven years as Bill Evans’s bassist, and Erskine, who had driven Weather Report through its most electric period, form a rhythm section with quite different reflexes from those pedigrees might suggest: both play with restraint and attention to the group sound. This is the original 1983 US pressing. All-analog recording. Mastered at Masterdisk by Bill Kipper. Catalogue number 9 60168-1.