Lest you think this Edge is of the mere "cutting" variety, beware: Lenny White's new record presents the bleeding edge of funk, a creative synthesis of everything that's gone down in the music in the last few decades. It finds in its heart the visceral power of rock, the rhythmic looseness of jazz, and the mind-expanding qualities of progressive soul.

The core quintet here consists of drummer White, saxophonist Bennie Maupin (best-known for his tenure with Herbie Hancock), Patrice Rushen (who contributes potent work throughout on a variety of keyboards), and funk-bass heavyweights Victor Bailey and Foley. The latter does a sardonic, multi-tracked rap on White's "If Six Was Four," while Bailey contributes the evocatively jazzy "No Man's Land" to the session. Rushen also shares songwriting chores with "Exit," on which the band whips an organ-driven storm out of a quiet, atmospheric opening.

Maupin's too-seldom-heard bass-clarinet work, as haunting as Eric Dolphy's, is unleashed on the tense "Mr. DePriest." And Led Zeppelin's "Kashmir" is beautifully recast with a slamming hip-hop groove - Foley's spaced-out vocals evoking There's a Riot Goin' On-era Sly Stone. Most startling, though, is White's arrangement of "It Was a Very Good Year," which bathes the standard in mystery and discovery, with a perfect vocal by Dianne Reeves.

Larry Nai, JAZZIZ Magazine