Enduring through 5 decades of styles that have come and gone, the mix of jazz and rock, called “fusion”, is still shining brightly. Here are three recent plugged in adventures.
Stephan Thelen brings his electric guitars, basses, synths and programming on a mix and teamwork including a plethora of guitarists such as David Torn, Time Moter, Markeus Reuter, Jon Durant, Bill Walker and Barry Cleveland, as well as hard hitting rhy thm members like Andy Brugger-Manuel Maspuinelli/dr and Andi Pupato/perc. The songs are hard driving metal, with a deep bass groove as on “Point of Inflection”, with tons of electronic effects creating framed soundsapes a la Robert Fripp on a second take of “Point of Inflection”, Ladder to the Stars” or “Mercury Transit”. There is some easy rocking by Brugger on the David Torn mix of “Point of Inflection” as well, with lush orchestrations surround the six strings on “Celestial Navigation”. Metallic musings.
Leading a trio with Fabio Trentini on bass and drummer Asaf Sirkis, Markus Reuter emphasizes his touch guitar to create dark and ominous moods reminiscent of Red-era King Crimson. Synthscapes and drums form long shadows on “One Cut Suffices” and the eerie “River of Things”, with spacious atmospheres hovering on”Barren”. Trentini and Sirkus plod through a Deep Purple-ish “Rounds of Love” and trudge on the hard hitting “The Rake”. Palpable panoramas.
Famed drummer Simon Phillips brings together his Protocol band of Ernest Tibbs/b, Otmaro Ruiz/key, Jacob Scesney/sax and Alex Sill/g for a hard hitting collection of originals. Tibbs slaps the bass on the relentlessly funky “Isosceles” and teams up with Ruiz on the deep groove of “When The Cat’s Away”. The band is reminiscent of Weather Report on the lyrical “The Long Road Home” led by Ruiz’s piano, whle some clever exotic percussion blends with Scesney’s soprano on the fragrant “Nyanga” and dreamy “Dark Star”. The mix of hard hitting beats and World Music spices make for a good listen for fusion fans.