Despite the disappointing attempt at contemporary jazz on Note Worker, guitarist Frank Gambale proved on Passages that he doesn't give up easily.
His reputation as a supreme technician had long been established during his years with Chick Corea and on his early solo releases, but Gambale had also been nurturing an identifiable group sound as well (regardless of the personnel).
Unfortunately, his penchant for composition and arranging does not contain the same inspiration that his guitar playing does.
Most of the selections lack imagination and creativity, and are simply vehicles for mind-blowing Gambale solos.
This prevents him from achieving the same type of commercial success experienced by the likes of Pat Metheny or George Benson.
The music here is livelier than on Note Worker, partly attributable to the presence of keyboard whiz Otmaro Ruiz and a cleaner guitar tone, but ends up being too inconsistent to have much of an impact for the fusion fanatics or contemporary jazz aficionados.
Gambale would give this formula one more shot on Thinking Out Loud, but would eventually find his niche playing high-powered fusion with the genre's top players.
Of note, the Japanese release contains a cover of Procol Harum's "A Whiter Shade of Pale.".
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Little CharmerFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 05:39 | 12 MB | 36 MB |
| 2 | 6.8 ShakerFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 05:52 | 13 MB | 40 MB |
| 3 | PassagesFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 06:23 | 14 MB | 37 MB |
| 4 | White RoomPete Brown, John Bruce, Frank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 04:05 | 9 MB | 26 MB |
| 5 | D-DayFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 04:03 | 9 MB | 25 MB |
| 6 | Nunzio's NearFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 05:19 | 12 MB | 31 MB |
| 7 | Free SpiritFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 05:07 | 11 MB | 29 MB |
| 8 | One With EverythingFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 09:14 | 21 MB | 54 MB |
| 9 | RoxanaFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 05:10 | 11 MB | 31 MB |
| 10 | UluruFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 05:57 | 13 MB | 33 MB |
| 11 | Another AlternativeFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 08:12 | 18 MB | 54 MB |
| 65 mins | 149 MB | |||||
| 65 mins | 402 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Biles | Engineer, Mixing |
| 2 | Pete Brown | Composer |
| 3 | John Bruce | Composer |
| 4 | Brandon Fields | Guest Artist, Saxophone |
| 5 | Frank Gambale | Arranger, Composer, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Guitar (Electric), Mixing, Primary Artist, Producer, Vocals |
| 6 | Sam Gay | Creative Director |
| 7 | Peter Grant | Art Direction |
| 8 | Beth Herzhaft | Photography |
| 9 | Alphonso Johnson | Bass, Guest Artist |
| 10 | Mann Kameda | Photography |
| 11 | Walfredo Reyes | Drums, Percussion |
| 12 | Otmaro Ruíz | Hammond Synth, Keyboards, Organ (Hammond), Synthesizer |
| 13 | Matt Stephens | Engineer |
| 14 | Akira Taguchi | Executive Producer |
| 15 | Alan Yoshida | Mastering |
| Quality | Format | Encoding | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | MP3 | 320kps 44.1kHz | MP3 is an audio coding format which uses a form of lossy data compression. The highest bitrate of this format is 320kbps (kbit/s). MP3 Digital audio takes less amount of space (up to 90% reduction in size) and the quality is not as good as the original one. |
| CD Quality | FLAC | 16bit 44.1kHz | FLAC is an audio coding format which uses lossless compression. Digital audio in FLAC format has a smaller size and retains the same quality of the original Compact Disc (CD). |