BASSically Speaking (1991)

The title track is worth the price of admission all by itself: Bromberg plucks, taps, thumbs, pops, pounds, and strums out a bass solo as aggressive and admirable as any on record. He plays it on a five-string instrument — one of eight flavors of bass heard on BASSically Speaking, all designed by Bromberg himself-attacking the strings with lightning — fast combinations of all 10 fingers, splitting his sound between two channels so the assault comes at you in stereo. The rest of the album? It's admirable, but less important. Fronting a band of anonymous-sounding L.A. session heavies, Bromberg plays electric jazz and R&B fusion that is two steps short of captivating and two days late for originality. But the title solo kicks very hard. B