After his fine, straightforward 1973 debut LP Spectrum, Cobham made four albums on which grandiose horn charts often smothered his drum energy. But late in 1975, he reduced his seven-piece jazz-rock group to a fusion quartet and let them rip through simpler tunes on the oft-powerful Life and Times. Yet on "Live" on Tour, much the same band—keyboardist George Duke, guitarist John Scofield and bassist Al Johnson—returns to an ambitious, vaguely showbiz agenda that's much less effective.

The trouble starts with Cobham's "Hip Pockets," the opening cut. It shifts uselessly through scads of funk clichés in an obvious search for complexity, thus losing the firm center any funk piece needs. Then there's the pretentious solemnity of Johnson's "Almustafa the Beloved," broken only near tune's end by a strikingly beautiful bass line. Finally, Duke's stand-up comedy number, "Space Lady," is as disorganized as it is self-serving, much like Cobham's seven-minute drum solo ("Frankenstein Goes to the Disco"). Thankfully, Scofield and Cobham each contribute one intense, direct chart, and Duke's "Do What Cha Wanna" is irresistibly catchy funk/soul with sleek harmony vocals.

Duke's role as coleader here seems more a matter of status than aggressive, creative input. Such a superficial situation suits the group, though; only in flashes of brilliance do they do it, which they should realize is more important than trying to do it all. (RS 228)

MICHAEL ROZEK