• The Antisocial Club (9:48)
• George Russell (10:28)
• Prayer (3:36)
• New Rhodes (7:57)
• Fast Food (8:22)
• Wicked Good (9:08)
• Message to Beloved Souls Departed (4:48)

Artists

• Alex Acuna
• Ambrose Akinmusire
• Scott Amendola
  Drums
• Nels Cline
  Guitar
• Jeff Elwood
• Jimmy Haslip
• Alan Pasqua
  Piano

Reviews

• What if Miles Davis had decided to stick with the music of the Bitches Brew/Cellar Door period, circa 1969-1970, and develop within that genre rather than continuing to move in other directions? Perhaps his music would have sounded like Alan Pasqua's The Anti Social Club. The grooves and basslines on the seven originals are reminiscent of Davis' music of the era although the updated electronics, the individual voices, and the spirit of this group differ. Keyboardist Alan Pasqua (a former member of Tony Williams' Lifetime) sounds quite at home in the early-'70s funk/fusion setting, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire is a bright new voice on his instrument, and each of the musicians makes strong contributions. While there are solos, the "accompaniment" is so active that most of the music sounds like explosive ensembles. Fans of Miles Davis' music of his early electronics period will find this set to be a brilliant extension on Davis' ideas, and a fresh way of playing fusion. Highly recommended.  -Scott Yanow
  
  Scott Yanow
  All Music Guide [October 2007]
• Alan Pasqua first emerged as keyboardist for legendary drummer Tony Williams’ mid-1970s New Lifetime and has been a busy session player ever since, with a solo career focused largely on acoustic music, including the elegant My New Old Friend (Cryptogramophone, 2005). Still, the outstanding DVD, Allan Holdsworth and Alan Pasqua featuring Chad Wackerman and Jimmy Haslip (Altitude Digital, 2007), proved Pasqua still has the energy and chops for pedal-to-the-metal fusion. The Antisocial Club continues his revived interest in fusion with a terrific group of well and lesser-known players.
  
  Pasqua’s music has its roots in late-1960s-mid-1970s electric Miles, and he couldn’t have chosen a better trumpeter than up-and-comer Ambrose Akinmusire. Just 25, Akinmusire has already built an impressive resume with artists including Steve Coleman, Vijay Iyer and Josh Roseman. On the bristling, Spanish-tinged “New Rhodes,” he solos with a Bitches Brew (Columbia, 1969) fire, waxing lyrical on the title track’s Latin-esque groove, held firmly in place by Yellowjackets bassist Jimmy Haslip, drummer Scott Amendola and percussionist Alex Acuña. Saxophonist Jeff Ellwood, another relative youngster, may not have Akinmusire’s recording credentials, but he’s no less impressive on the broodingly propulsive “Wicked Good.”
  
  
  The group works together far too well to be truly antisocial, but it’s definitely far from polite. While Haslip and Amendola—a drummer capable of everything from balls-out skronk to in-the-pocket funk—are relentlessly grooving, they play with the kind of flat-out energy that makes a greasy tune like “Fast Food” just a little, well, rude. “George Russell” feels cleaner, more like Headhunters-era funk, but at its core is the innovative Lydian Chromatic Concept of its namesake; the undeniable foundation for Pasqua’s Herbie Hancock-inflected acoustic piano solo.
  
  
  Acoustic musings aside, Pasqua largely favors electric sounds, in particular the gritty, overdriven Rhodes tone of “New Rhodes,” “Fast Food” and “Wicked Good,” which loosely references—but doesn’t imitate—“Bitches Brew,” though at a faster clip. “Prayer” is a tone poem that could easily have fit on Miles’ In a Silent Way (Columbia, 1969), while “Message to Beloved Souls Departed” extrapolates Miles into a more lyrical compositional framework. The entire set possesses more defined form—a focus of Pasqua’s, regardless of context, throughout his career as a leader.
  
  
  But the ace in the hole that lifts The Antisocial Club into the realm of outstanding is guitarist Nels Cline. Just as John McLaughlin’s rough-edged playing often defined the overall sound of Miles’ electric albums, Cline’s even greater textural diversity expands The Antisocial Club. Cline should be just as important as McLaughlin—equally encyclopedic but even more chameleon-like; but his oftentimes avant leanings preclude the kind of wider acclaim he deserves. He’s no less on-the-edge here, but Pasqua’s largely groove-centric material sometimes grounds Cline while, elsewhere, his extreme playing contributes even greater bite.
  
  
  This may not be a disc for the well-mannered, but those looking for fusion with sharp teeth and a certain political incorrectness would be well advised to join The Antisocial Club. -By John Kelman
  John Kelman
  All About Jazz [November 2007]
• Keyboardist Alan Pasqua has studied with pianists Jaki Byard and George Russell, and toured with artists as diverse as Stan Kenton to Tony Williams. Studio sessions with Eddie Money, Bob Dylan, Carlos Santana, Rick Springfield, Pat Benetar, Sammy Hagar and Whitesnake have also helped pay the bills. A versatile musician, Pasqua brings a highly melodic sensibility to the proceedings no matter the style or genre.

  Pasqua's 1970s stint in Tony Williams' New Lifetime, alongside guitarist Allan Holdsworth, helped set the stage for this assertive effort. Heavily influenced by the fusion-era work of Miles Davis, The Antisocial Club blends In A Silent Way-inspired atmospherics with On The Corner-styled grooves. A radical about-face from My New Old Friend, (Cryptogramophone, 2005), Pasqua's intimate acoustic piano trio session of primarily standard material, this session seethes with buzzing analog electronics and sputtering harsh edges fueled by fulminating vamps. Alternating between liquid smooth grooves and raspy electronic outbursts, Pasqua and company update classic fusion clichés with ardent commentary and supple lyricism. “Prayer” and “Message To Beloved Souls Departed” represent Pasqua's introspective side, while the Jekyll and Hyde vacillation of the title track and the relentless metallic grind of “Fast Food” showcase a more aggressive aspect. Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and saxophonist Jeff Ellwood make a robust frontline, each delivering pithy, circuitous statements on the title track. Pasqua ranges far and wide, delivering euphonious, percussive piano lines that alternate with terse, textural assaults on an overdriven Fender Rhodes. Ubiquitous guitarist Nels Cline contributes wah-wah-fueled blast furnace pyrotechnics on “George Russell” and “Fast Food.” “New Rhodes” and “Wicked Good” knit sinister stop-time pacing and roiling polyrhythmic energy to raucous communal expression. The Antisocial Club is a high watermark in a growing number of records stylistically indebted to the Dark Prince's seminal electronic period. Although no new conceptual ground is broken, for fans of Miles Davis' late 1970s work, the groove is deep and the funk is nasty. -Troy Collins-

  Troy Collins
  All About Jazz [October 2007]

• Keyboardist Alan Pasqua is the headliner on "The Anti Social Club," however, that doesn't mean he has to be the star. But -- wait a minute -- let's just give him credit for putting together a jazz band that is shaped by rock elements, yet never loses its jazz roots. In displaying that, the band is dominated easily by the work of guitarist Nels Cline, a star of Wilco, and trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire. The guitarist, for instance, is the heart of "George Russell" a hard-working blues, and also sets the course for "New Rhodes." The latter number eventually becomes the home of the trumpeter and saxophonist Jeff Ellwood. The piece also is driven by bassist Jimmy Haslip from the Yellowjackets. Akinmusire stands out on a meditative "Prayer" and the jazz-leaning title cut. None of this is to suggest Pasqua doesn't help the effort. He offers a strong solo on "New Rhodes" and his backup work throughout the album provides a richness that makes the seven-piece band sound bigger than it is.

  -- Bob Karlovits

  Bob Karlovits
  Pittsburg Tribune [November 2007]
• Alan Pasqua,  “The Anti-Social Club” (Cryptogramophone). If this sounds like some of the best jazz/rock fusion since its embattled heyday, that’s because keyboardist Alan Pasqua is as hip and pedigreed a producer of it as you’ll find. Back in the day, he played in Tony Williams’ Lifetime and studied with the great jazz composer and theorist George Russell. The latter is no small thing and leads to a tune dedicated to Russell on Pasqua’s new disc on which he makes the Fender Rhodes piano sound good again, as if we were all listening to “In a Silent Way” by Miles Davis. All virtuosity is high-protein, then, not empty. As a West Coast studio musician, Pasqua has played, too, with a list of rock and pop musicians as long as Shaquille O’Neal’s arm, which means he knows a thing or two about hooks and electronic seasonings. It’s a standard saxophone/trumpet/guitar sextet with percussion added and it’s got energy and ideas to burn — which, in fact, it sometimes does. -Jeff Simon
  Jeff Simon
  Buffalo News [November 2007]

• Keyboardist Alan Pasqua is one of those jazz cats who grew successful in pop music. Pasqua toured for years with Bob Dylan and Carlos Santana. Before that, in the mid-1970's he was recruited to be in Tony Williams' Lifetime, led by the former Miles Davis drummer.

  Pasqua reignites the jazz flame with this sextet that uses 1970s funk as a starting point. The set also includes some requisite spaciness and a knack for melody amid the beats. The title track is a cool, slinky number that leads to a lip-splattering climax. "George Russell," named for Pasqua's teacher at the New England Conservatory of Music, sounds as if it could be coming out of a 1970s Cadillac. The big bass line sets up some keyboard histrionics.

   The session is both acidic and spiritual. "Prayer" quivers handsomely without a steady pulse, while "Fast Food"throbs with Jimmy Haslip's bass and Nels Cline's guitar. Trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and saxophonist Jeff Ellwood offer up some heavy horn work on this set that looks forward and backward, and has fun doing it. -by Karl Stark
   

  Karl Stark
  The Philadelphia Inquirer [November 2007]

• Alan Pasqua's previous recording (Standards, on Fuzzy Music) was a very subtle (and very fine) acoustic piano trio album. The Antisocial Club is not acoustic and not subtle. Whether you think it is fine depends on how you feel about a particular aesthetic, exemplified by early electric Miles and Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi albums.

  It is possible that this album will make some converts in the acoustic community of electric-jazz naysayers. While it has much that they dislike about fusion--the heavy repetitive rhythms (one man's groove is another's monotony), the electric keyboard twitterings and splashes that fill every cranny of available musical space, the indulgent, grandiose hooks--in also contains elements that most fusion lacks. Among these are brains, creativity, adventurousness and real solos.

  Paqua writes cool little tunes and arranges them into large, dynamically diverse concepts that provide openings for the strong voices in his ensemble. Guitarist Nels Cline pleasingly trashes "George Russell" in wild quivers and squeals. Jeff Ellwood's soprano saxophone whirls in a dizzying dervish on the title track, and releases into an exhilarating, shrieking catharsis on "Wicked Good." On "prayer," reminiscent of Miles' In A Silent Way, Ambrose Akinmusire long, pure trumpet lines melt into and out of the ambient stasis. But Pasqua is the leader, and in the sheer density of information that is this album, his various keyboards provide the content that is the nastiest, the funkiest, the most lyrical and the most startling. - by Thomas Conrad
  

  
  

  Thomas Conrad
  Jazz Times [January/February 2008]

• With its expressive instrumental palette, double-clutching rock beats, painterly ensemble textures and mercurial rhythms, electric jazz of the '70s has become a seductive nostalgia the past few years, especially among young musicians who didn't live through the era. So who better to jump on the bandwagon than one who did - Los Angeles keyboard man Alan Pasqua, who played sizzling jazz/rock fusion with Tony Williams' Lifetime and guitarist Allan Holdsworth?

  The Antisocial Club is a fresh and dynamic disc, charged with honest emotion and a loose eclecticism that nods to electric Miles Davis. The most direct homage (to "In A Silent Way") comes on "Prayer," which starts with shifting clouds that slowly condense into pools of sound, as the faraway trumpet of Ambrose Akinmusire floats the melody. But the mission is no secret from the start, as electric bassist Jimmy Haslip launches the title tune with the four-note vamp of Ray Charles' "What'd I Say," albeit in an altered harmonic setting and at a dreamy, mysterious tempo.

  "George Russell," named for a Pasqua mentor, takes a funkier path. "New Rhodes" wraps  wah-wah guitar, dirty electric piano, a bass vamp and soaring trumpet around a backbeat. "Fast Food" (very '80s Miles) sails outside, with gristle guitar and a warbling, out-of-the-key Middle Eastern line. "Wicked Good" grooves with suspense, and "Message to Beloved Souls Departed" chants a hymn for the dead.

  Solo-wise, Pasqua delivers fluid, clinking Fender Rhodes lines as well as spiraling, chirpy-to-throaty synth and limpid acoustic piano. A nice surprise is the big tone, muscular phrasing and high-range accuracy of young trumpeter Akinmusire. Scronks, scribbles and gurgles by the brilliant guitarist Nels Cline (and drummer Scott Amendola, on electronics), as well as tasteful percussion by Alex Acuna, are central to the mysterioso ensemble texture, though Cline's Holdsworth-like solo on "George Russell" pushes into the self-important grandiosity of much "classic" fusion.

  The sense of looking backward is symptomatic, for in spite of its freewheeling attitude, The Antisocial Club is still quite inside the box formally - in the end, it's well-made music cast from a tried and true mold. - by Paul de Barros
  Paul de Barros
  Downbeat [January 2008]
• Today, Pasqua's career revolves more closely around the jazz world, as he continues to release acoustic sessions with his former college roommate, drummer Peter Erskine. But he's somehow remained relatively underrated as a composer and performer of electric jazz, and unheralded for his groundbreaking and seminal work, both harmonically and as a sound-sculptor, as it relates to the evolution of electric piano styles. That changed in 2007, as fans of electric jazz were gifted with two stellar recordings, one of which was a live DVD with Allan Holdsworth, complete with state-of-the-art sound and video quality, recorded at Yoshi's. But it was The Antisocial Club (Cryptogramophone), one of 2007's finest releases, which packed the most stunning surprises. With new personnel, new tunes, a new keyboard providing a new arsenal of sounds, and a discriminating genre-specific aesthetic that remains intact and strikingly up-to-date, Pasqua accomplished nothing less than re-evolutionizing that previous Lifetime right into this one. It's like he never stopped--and, as we'll find out, he never really did. --by Phil DiPietro
  Phil DiPietro
  All About Jazz [February 2008]