Pete Jolly: "Seasons"

An album that sounds for all the world like early electronica, ten to twenty years before its time.  Pete Jolly’s reputation as a jazz pianist was long solidified by the time he made this record, a deliberately experimental attempt at capturing the electric piano/early synth zeitgeist in its infancy…and what an attempt.  Jolly plays piano, Wurlitzer, Musette, Sano Vox, Hammond B-3 and even accordion, on what is a very contemplative, zoned-out set of mellow yet grooving jazz.  “Plummer Park” is likely the funkiest track here in the break sense, but this album actually works better taken as a whole, as piecing it apart cut by cut detracts from what is meant to be a seamless, full-LP listening experience.  Each song flows smoothly into the next, and the other musicians that accompany Jolly (including Paul Humphrey, Milt Holland and Emil Richards) feed symbiotically off of the shifting moods and spontaneity.  This music is extremely fertile ground for sample-heads seeking loops, as it presents a fairly limitless set of possibilities to the modern beat producer, but do yourself a favor and rock this LP in its entirety the first time you hear it.  Sublime waves of shade, texture and sound await.