In 2001, Japanese bassist Tetsuo Sakurai released an awesome hard-hitting fusion album called "Gentle Hearts." This great album featured Greg Howe on guitar and Dennis Chambers on drums. The trio did a tour last year with Akira Onozuka on keys, the result of which is this great live DVD "Gentle Hearts Tour 2004" (they released a CD version as well which has some, but not all, of the tunes from the DVD version). The DVD mainly consists of a show recorded live in Yokohama Japan on September 5th, 2004. Most of the songs are off the Gentle Hearts album. They also play "Proto-Cosmos" and "Extraction" from the awesome Greg Howe, Victor Wooten, & Dennis Chambers album "Extraction", and a couple of others including a cool bass & drums duet called "Firewater." It also has a couple of rehearsal clips, an interview segment, and a couple of other backstage pieces. I don't know if the songs were played at the show in the same order that they appear on the disc, but it seems that way since Howe gets better as the disc progresses. I'd say Howe's best playing is on "Extraction" and "Wonderland in the Sky." I really like Akira Onozuka's keyboard playing on this disc as well. He does some cool trading off with Howe on "Extraction," and plays great solos on "Proto Cosmos" and "Wonderland in the Sky." Sakurai plays a six-string bass throughout the show, and is an absolute monster! On "Brain Storm" he's frickin unconscious! Greg Howe fans, and fans of the heavy-fusion genre in general will definitely dig this DVD. Highly recommended!
I purchased my copy through Abstract Logix.
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