On The Fast Track

Bassist Gerald Veasley rides two rails at once. Though rooted in the traditional gospel, blues, R&B and funk sounds of his native Philadelphia, Veasley injects this amalgam of old-school styles and influences with a progressive sensibility that transports contemporary jazz to a new place.

The latest stop on the ride is On the Fast Track, a set of thirteen forays that showcase Veasley's technical mastery of the six-string bass as well as his eclectic musical and thematic philosophy. It's his fifth solo effort on the Heads Up label, which also spawned Veasley's Look Ahead (1992), Signs (1994), Soul Control (1997) and Love Letters (1999). A co-founder of the Heads Up Superband with labelmates Kenny Blake (sax) and Joe McBride (piano), Veasley also appears on the Superband's Live at the Berks Jazz Fest, released in 1998. And all of this isn't even counting the albums pressed during his seven-year stint with the Joe Zawinul Syndicate and his tenure with Grover Washington Jr.. Veasley has performed on 70-plus recordings where he brings his six-string prowess to bear as a session player.

On the Fast Track takes Veasley to new territory, but there's something familiar about the destination nonetheless. He continues to draw inspiration from the grooves of his early days in Philly, where he was an up-and-coming musician in the '70s.

"After Love Letters, I felt like I wanted to do an album that was a little more upbeat, a little more energetic," he says. "I'd been involved in some different projects that had been using a bigger horn section, so I wanted to incorporate some of that. Instead of just the saxophone with bass, I wanted the saxophone with trumpet, and a couple tunes with sax, trumpet and trombone. I just wanted to get it back to the kind of sound that I grew up loving. It goes back a little bit to those funk bands of the '70s - just a bigger sound overall."

Along for the ride are more than a dozen session players - each hand-picked for their expertise in a variety of styles and nuances, and all brilliant musicians in their own right who up the ante and push Veasley to deliver his personal best.

"I enjoy the feeling you get from working with other musicians instead of just operating in your own cocoon, trying to play every instrument," says Veasley. "That's why I like people like Will Brock, the piano player. He brings so much to the table. And Mark Knox, my long-time collaborator, not only does great work with keyboards, but he's a hell of an arranger too. All those guys bring so much that you have to kind of take advantage of that, because that inspires you. It creates things that provide a spark."

The multiple talents are "almost like an extended family," he adds. "It's a challenge for me to limit it, given so many great players that I've been around. I'll hear a particular part and I'll hear that person's voice and how it will fit for that song, and I just have to have it."

All those players and all those voices gathered in one place in the making of On the Fast Track result in a satisfying fusion of R&B, funk and jazz from departure to destination and every point in between. The title track kicks the album off with a solid funk foundation and a punchy melodic riff that moves along at an even, midtempo clip. It's followed immediately by a breezy instrumental cover of Stevie Wonder's "Do I Do," propelled by Veasley's high-end bass work and a full complement of horns (saxophonist/arranger Chris Farr, trumpeter Matt Cappy, trombonist Jeff Bradshaw).

The same brass lineup returns a couple tracks later in the driving, passionate "Kickin' 22 Express," with an arrangement that features Pablo Batista on congos and percussion, and Veasley's high-end solo work on six-string bass.

"Heaven To Earth" is a quiet ballad that marks the start of a brief break in the action - a rest stop along the journey where riders can cool down with tracks like the midtempo "You Asked For It" and the easygoing "Sweet Rain."

The smoldering Latin undercurrent of "Deep Blue Samba" takes the trip in a new direction, followed by the sultry neo-soul original "My Desire" and the exotic shades of "Under the Capetown Sun." The closer, "Goodnight Moon," is the classic instrumental R&B ballad - slow, sensual and richly layered. It's Veasley's final nod to his roots, no matter how far the fast track may have taken him, his band or his audience.

On a poignant note, On the Fast Track is dedicated to the late saxophonist Grover Washington Jr., an old friend of Veasley whose journey ended with a sudden and fatal heart attack in December 1999. Veasley says his friendship with Washington, which spanned more than a decade, left a lasting impression on him - not just as a musician but as a human being.

"He really showed me how you should value people, in spite of whatever you may have achieved," says Veasley. "He always took the time with people, and always took time with kids who had questions. He was very giving in that respect. He also showed how to be a family man, how to be a leader, and how to take your craft very seriously. He was someone whom I also admired because he had an identifiable sound, and helped define a style of music that many people have since emulated. He was the originator of that. I think about Grover every day."

But Veasley still has miles to go before he sleeps. His primary focus is to continue tapping into the depths of his rich musical experience and coming up with the fuel to propel himself along the fast track into new and more rewarding musical territory.

"It's a matter of getting on that track and just moving forward," he says. "It's the whole idea of progression. As you go through life, you think that you'll grow and you'll get better, and that your life in general will get better. But sometimes it's just as important that you're moving, and it might be in a straight line, but you have the experience of taking in all these new things. The improvement comes in the movement to new places, in experiencing new things, in making new musical statements."