Brunel, Bunny - Bunny Brunel's L.A.. Zoo Revisited

Year of Release: 2004
Label: Mascot Records
Catalog Number: M 7091 2
Format: CD
Total Time: 72:41:00

Bunny Brunel's L.A. Zoo Revisited ... Bunny who? No, this is not an album of a resident of the Hefner mansion. No, Bernard "Bunny" Brunel is a bass-player whose career started in 1978, when he was playing in a jazz club and was noticed by jazz/fusion legend Chick Corea. Since then, Brunel [has] played with the likes of Herbie Hancock, Natalie Cole, Al DiMeola and Joe Farrel. But besides performing, he is also a composer and his music featured Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven and the Highlander TV series. His activities go on, as he also designed bass guitars and wrote books and released instruction videos to help others play the bass guitar. So, he is a very active, involved musician.

Looking at the list of people he played with, it will be no surprise to find L.A. Zoo Revisited is an album with a dominate jazz / fusion sound. All together it is a feel-good album: a mellow sound, with some really great guitar parts and funky, jazzy bass lines. Sometimes the sound is a bit bluesy, like "Blue Touch," with Brian Auger on keyboards. The keyboard intro reminds me a bit of what Ray Charles did in the Blues Brothers movie. Bunny Brunel invited a number of guest musicians to join him here, like Vivian Campbell, Brian Auger and Mike stern. Unfortunately the album, as the title already tells a bit, is not that original, as Bunny Brunel released an album called L.A. Zoo already in 1999, with the exact same tracklisting.

Well, there are differences: this version features one additional track: "Tiger," which is a nice addition. A very important difference is Virgil Donati (Planet X), who plays drums on all tracks here. Also some of the bass parts have been re-recorded. So if you are a fan, this album has not much more to offer. On the other hand, if you are new to Bunny Brunel's music, this album might be interesting. But beware: this is not progressive rock! It's more fusion, with some melodic rock songs. Best if you listened to it before you buy it, even if you are a huge Virgil Donati fan!

[This review originally appeared June 2004 at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]
Tracklisting:
Tropicana (7:02) / Ivanhoe (4:39) / Vivian's Boogie (4:44) / Blue Touch (7:28) / Maybe Tuesday (6:12) / Led Boots (6:19) / Ten Years Later (3:52) / Bunny's Blues (4:09) / Stratus (6:50) / L. A. Zoo (4;25) / Vlad (5:58) / Michael (4:18) / Tiger (6:39)

Musicians:
Bunny Brunel - bass
Vivian Campbell - guitar
Ray Gomez - guitar
Mike Stern - guitar
Brian Auger - organ
Virgil Donati - drums
Jeff Grossberg - Hammond B3
Mike Palmer - guitar
Craig Adams -guitar

Discography:
Ivanhoe
Touche
Momentum
Dedication
For You To Play
L.A. Zoo (1999)
CAB - CAB (2000)
CAB - CAB2 (2001)
CAB - CAB4 (2003)
L.A. Zoo Revisited (2004)
Bunny Brunel and Friends - Cafe Au Lait (2004)

Genre: Fusion-Jazz Fusion

Origin US

Added: December 7th 2004
Reviewer: Marcel Haster
Score:
Artist website: www.bunnybrunel.com
Hits: 2893
Language: english