Frank Gambale was still a vital part of Chick Corea's Elektric Band when he recorded The Great Explorers, a hard-hitting, aggressive effort that generally has more in common with the instrumental rock of Steve Vai and Joe Satriani than the more complex jazz-fusion he embraced with Corea and Steve Smith's Vital Information.
JVC asked retailers to place Explorers in both their jazz and rock sections, but in fact, the CD's jazz content isn't very sizeable (exceptions include the Pat Metheny-influenced "Cruising Altitude" and the poetic "Dawn over the Nullarbor").
Be that as it may, Explorers is a solid effort -- nothing remarkable, but enjoyable and honest.
Vai and Satriani fans would do well to pay close attention to Explorers, while those who are only interested in hearing the guitarist play jazz-fusion will probably want to pass.
| Title/Composers | Performer | Listen | Time | Size | Size | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Frankly SpeakingFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 05:34 | 12 MB | 37 MB |
| 2 | The Final FrontierFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 04:53 | 11 MB | 30 MB |
| 3 | The JaguarFrank Gambale, Gary Hoey | Frank Gambale | Play | 04:13 | 9 MB | 28 MB |
| 4 | The Great ExplorersFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 05:49 | 13 MB | 36 MB |
| 5 | She Knows Me WellFrank Gambale, Gary Hoey | Frank Gambale | Play | 04:34 | 10 MB | 30 MB |
| 6 | Thunder CurrentFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 06:11 | 14 MB | 41 MB |
| 7 | PathfinderFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 04:19 | 9 MB | 27 MB |
| 8 | Dawn Over the NullarborFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 04:43 | 10 MB | 27 MB |
| 9 | Cruising AltitudeFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 04:45 | 10 MB | 26 MB |
| 10 | Naughty BusinessFrank Gambale | Frank Gambale | Play | 05:58 | 13 MB | 37 MB |
| 51 mins | 116 MB | |||||
| 51 mins | 324 MB | |||||
| Artist | Job | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Robert Biles | Engineer, Mixing |
| 2 | Tony Cornejo | Engineer |
| 3 | Tom Coster | Guest Artist, Organ, Organ (Hammond) |
| 4 | Ken Davis | Mixing |
| 5 | Kevin KD Davis | Engineer |
| 6 | Frank Gambale | Arranger, Bass, Composer, Drum Programming, Drums, Guitar, Guitar (Acoustic), Mixing, Primary Artist, Producer, Sequencing, Sitar, Synthesizer, Voices |
| 7 | Peter Grant | Art Direction |
| 8 | Bernie Grundman | Mastering |
| 9 | Stuart Hamm | Bass, Fretless Bass, Guest Artist |
| 10 | Gary Hoey | Composer |
| 11 | Takashi Misu | Executive Producer |
| 12 | Darren Mora | Engineer, Mixing |
| 13 | Jonathan Mover | Cymbals, Drums |
| 14 | Freddie Ravel | Keyboards, Organ, Organ (Hammond), Piano, Soloist, Synthesizer |
| 15 | Micajah Ryan | Mixing |
| 16 | Walter Spencer | Engineer |
| 17 | Lori Stoll | Photography |
| 18 | Chris Wood | Engineer |
| 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). |