Though
Heavy Heart was supposedly the "mellow, sensual" album
Carla Bley had in mind, Night-Glo is more like it -- a relaxed, easygoing, easy-listening series of compositions that nearly spills over into fuzak. Writing for a basic sextet with an added five-man horn section, most effectively when one color melts gently into another,
Bley permits the lazy pina-colada mood to amble undisturbed from track to track.
Hiram Bullock's guitar, whether in rock or jazz modes, almost defines the laid-back ambience all by itself;
Steve Swallow's bass underpins the relaxed groove and velvety horn textures (
Randy Brecker is the trumpet voice there); and
Paul McCandless can be heard on a variety of single- and double-reed wind instruments. It's a pretty album, always intelligently made, but interminable at times -- most noticeably on the aptly named "Rut." ~ Richard S. Ginell