Although
Dose Hermanos leaders/keyboardists
Bob Bralove and
Tom Constanten both had ties to
the Grateful Dead, Live From California has more in common with
Sun Ra's space jazz than the type of relaxed, country-flavored rock the Dead were best known for. Constanten was the Dead's keyboardist from 1968-70, while Bralove was the band's sound designer from 1987-95; but the experimental music on this CD (recorded live at San Francisco's Fillmore West in June and November 1997) has very little in common with "Casey Jones" or "Friend of the Devil." Combine Ra's more eccentric avant-garde instrumentals (as opposed to his hard bop) and traces of
Cecil Taylor with an awareness of progressive rock, and you've got eccentric
Dose Hermanos offerings like "Shadow of the Invisible Man," "New York Cup O' Java" and "Know Peaking." The keyboardists (who are joined by
Steve Kimock or
Henry Kaiser on guitar,
Joe Gallant on bass and
Prairie Prince on electronic drums) can be overly self-indulgent, but even so, this is a risk-taking, highly creative release that lovers of avant-garde jazz should make a point of obtaining. ~ Alex Henderson