Peter Arthur Loeb plays Tenor, Piano, Bass and Drums.
The cover of this album is a bit disconcerting, seeing the same
face behind each instrument, but Peter Arthur Loeb does play them
all on this album. The only other recording of a jazz musician
playing all the instruments on a record I can recall, was one
made by our own Humphrey Lyttelton called ‘One Man Went to Blow’
Peter Loeb certainly has a good sound on his tenor saxophone,
which I suspect is his first instrument and although he is competent
on the others, I would like to hear him in the company of a top
rhythm section. I suspect that the result might be quite startling,
he has great improvisational skills and a really good sound. He
is also a very skilled composer of original themes as this CD
aptly demonstrates, he wrote all but two of the tunes on this
album and there seems to have been a family connection with the
other two.
Having paid a visit to his very informative web site (http://www.palserv.com),
I understand his motivation for double tracking. He is a very
skilled saxophone player, who has worked at the highest level
of the music business and not been happy with the support he has
received from the rhythm sections. Consequently he feels he will
produce material that is much more a reflection of his musical
persona, when interacting with himself. This may in fact be so,
but on the other side of the coin, jazz is about the interaction
of different thought processes and just as ‘brain storming’ in
business situations will produce solution that no individual would
have thought of, likewise in jazz it is the interaction that’s
important.
I do not claim to know all or for that matter anything in this
overdubbing business and I would encourage other listeners to
buy Peter’s CD and make up there own minds. I would like to hear
him on tenor with a top class rhythm section, hopefully at a Jazz
Festival in the UK! I would also express my admiration of the
musical and technical ability he has demonstrated in the making
of this CD.
Don Mather