Three's too much company

S.M.V.

Thunder (Heads Up)

ESSENTIAL "Classical Thump"

Ever been listening to a jazz band and thought, "Man, I wish there were three bassists in this group"? Me neither. Nonetheless, we have "Thunder," an exercise in gratuitousness from three of the most revered electric bassists in the game: Stanley Clarke, Marcus Miller, and Victor Wooten. Ironically, the problem is not that the disc overwhelms the listener with low-end rumbling and thumping. The problem is that it doesn't . Much of "Thunder" sounds like any other smooth-fusion album, but with a couple of extra basses thrown in. Even the title track is more drizzle than storm, with its tame synth sounds and beats. The only tunes that caught my ear were "Classical Thump," because the Miller-Wooten duet feels less like a composition and more like on-the-spot improvisation, and "Lemme Try Your Bass," because it's only 57 seconds long. The three-basses-out-front stunt has been pulled before, on the fun "Super Bass," a session by upright bassists Ray Brown, John Clayton Jr., and Christian McBride that was recorded at Scullers in 1997. Lightning doesn't strike twice. [Steve Greenlee]