Dave Greenslade - Routes/Roots (2011)

Perhaps, it's because of his quiet stage presence and dedication to the performance rather than the show that Dave Greenslade, for all his immense skills, didn't join the rock keyboardists' elite to be ranked alongside Emerson, Wakeman or Lord. Still, his work with Jon Hiseman's COLOSSEUM and his own GREENSLADE is highly revered, while the man's solo career has always veered between transparent prog rock and jazz. This album fully explores the latter option, Greenslade painting musical pictures of his 55-years-long creative life's pivotal moments.
The veteran's old fans will cherish his new take on "A Valentyne" written in 1969 for COLOSSEUM but here given a righteous, if gentle, ivory-tinkling swing and taken beyond the strict-form original. Yet the major surprise comes just when the maestro makes his entry with "Routes" dissolving his piano jive in a big band sound - a one-man orchestra for there's no other players on the record - and then goes for the synth-led fusion, all filled with emotion. Thus, "Sideways" is pregnant with anxious expectancy, and "Boogaloo" rides the tinsel town night-time groove that invites Greenslade's famous Hammond to join the chorus, whereas in "Born To Eternity Time" Fender Rhodes pays tribute to Joe Zawinul. "Conversation" twines all these adventurous threads together and imbues the resulting dreamcatcher with familiar solemnity that turns celestial in the anthem-like "The Last Dance" to celebrate the road that still runs.