Rafiq Bhatia: Yes It Will (cd), Strata (ep)

Guitarist Rafiq Bhatia simultaneously releases a full length cd and an ep of new material with his teammates Jeremy Viner/woowinds, Jackson Hill/b and Alex Ritz/dr. Guests Vijay Iyer, Billy Hart, High Priest and Shahzad Ismaily make cameos here and there as well. The music is highly reminiscent of vintage early to mid 70s King Crimson, with angular melodies, tricky and changing rhythms and meters and layers upon layers of sounds, sounds SOUNDS. Intricate p ieces like “Once” and “Open Spaces;Open Minds” hearken back to the heady days of progressive rock, while “Annihilator Gators” is like a free for all. A clever take of the civil rights anthem “A Change Is Gonna Come” is as jarring a contrast to Martin Luther King’s message of passive resistance as you could get.  Complex and at times overwhelming.

www.rafiqbhatia.com

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