Jazz Archives

When it comes to avant-garde jazz/rock noise, few bands kicked out the jams better than did Last Exit. A who's-who of jazz players with punk-ass attitudes, Last Exit -- guitarist Sonny Sharrock, bassist Bill Laswell, drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson, and saxophonist Peter Brotzmann -- could swing, rock, and create an all-out free-jazz din all in the blink of an eye. More important, Last Exit was about was the thrill and danger of total improvisation; so much did they believe in this concept that their debut performance in Zurich in 1986 was completely improvised and unrehearsed. Granted, one person's free improvisation is another's tuneless chaos, but Last Exit, due primarily to the skill of its individuals, only infrequently fell off the precipice into the netherworld of arty wanking. These were four men that emotionally, intellectually, and musically belonged together: Sharrock had gotten his start playing blues, but rebelled against structured, proper guitar technique, preferring to play sheets of atonal metallic distortion; Shannon Jackson grew up playing Texas blues, but through working with players such as Blood Ulmer, explored a percussive world that was not regimented by time and meter; Bill Laswell played and produced rock, funk, and "straight" jazz, and in Last Exit he mashed all of these influences into one feral ball of noise and rhythm; and Peter Brotzmann didn't simply blow sax, he blew it to bits as if his life depended on it.

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:::Review by John Dougan@allmusic.com:::

Last Exit - Iron Path (1988)

1. Prayer 4:37
2. Iron Path 3:28
3. The Black Bat (For Aki Ikuta) 4:33
4. Marked for Death 2:19
5. The Fire Drum 4:18
6. Detonator 3:47
7. Sand Dancer 1:56
8. Cut and Run 2:30
9. Eye for an Eye 4:54
10. Devil's Rain 4:12

Credits
Bass - Bill Laswell
Drums - Ronald Shannon Jackson
Engineer - Martin Bisi
Guitar - Sonny Sharrock
Mastered By - Howie Weinberg
Photography, Artwork By [Front Cover Design] - Thi Link Le
Producer - Bill Laswell , Last Exit
Saxophone [Bass] - Peter Brötzmann