Tightrope/The Blue Man/Arrows Steve Khan Artist

{|BGO|}'s 2013 three-fer combines the jazz fusion guitarist's three late-'70s albums for {|Columbia|} -- 1977's {|Tightrope|}, 1978's {|The Blue Man|}, 1979's {|Arrows|} -- on a two-CD set, a move that amounts to his complete recorded work for {|Colu... Read more

{|BGO|}'s 2013 three-fer combines the jazz fusion guitarist's three late-'70s albums for {|Columbia|} -- 1977's {|Tightrope|}, 1978's {|The Blue Man|}, 1979's {|Arrows|} -- on a two-CD set, a move that amounts to his complete recorded work for {|Columbia|}. These also are {|Steve Khan|}'s first three albums and while they're very much of their time -- slick yet adventurous fusions of jazz, soul, funk, and rock of the progressive nature, albums where the groove is deep in the pocket yet still seems slippery, partially due to all those glistening surfaces -- they also exemplify the best parts of this era. They play as smooth as {|Bob James|} -- the keyboardist produced {|Tightrope|} and plays on it as well -- but there's a canniness to {|Khan|}'s original compositions that recalls the cleverness of {|Steely Dan|} (indeed, {|Donald Fagen|} wrote a testimonial to the prowess of the guitarist on {|Arrows|}). Most of all, the focus is on the taste and fire of {|Khan|}'s playing, particularly on the self-produced {|The Blue Man|} and {|Arrows|}. Here, {|Khan|} slides between easy lyricism and colorful, fiery runs, and those quicksilver transitions keep this anything but predictable. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine Less