fusion

Kazutoki Umezu: Diva (1988)

2018/04/27

It’s not often you stumble upon an album quite like this one. A huge debt of thanks goes out to a fellow reader, Francis, for sharing Kazutoki Umezu’s Diva with me (the first of two, from him, I’ll share with you). I’m still grinning from end to end just looking at the credits of this…
Imagination: Shake It (1980)

2018/04/24

From Germany, via the intriguing mind of Düsseldorf-native, multi-instrumentalist Uwe Ziß, comes this unlikely marriage of AOR, balearic, post-disco, funk, R&B, Krautrock, southern boogie, and soft rock. Perfect for days, much like this one, when your loyal blogger has very little time to actually write/keep up with my own set, writing deadlines. Nothing gets closer…
Shadowfax: The Dreams Of Children (1984)

2018/04/03

Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right, here I am, stuck in the middle with Shadowfax’s The Dreams Of Children. Clearly, a dividing line between their more celebrated/known early work as Windham Hill darlings of jazz/fusion and their later work as ultra-smooth New Age group, The Dreams of Children (seems to me)…
Terry Day Featuring Laura Davis: Look At Me (1987)

2018/03/20

From French record label Nato comes another wonderful batch of Jazz not Jazz. Look At Me, the debut from English multi-instrumentalist Terry Day, is unlike little else he would be known for. Surprisingly romantic, ragged but in a very smooth, put-together way, and (on the great bits) sounding not that dissimilar to the work of Paul…
Genji Sawai: Sowaka (1984)

2018/02/23

Is it Jazz? How many times can one ask that question. What exactly constitutes Jazz? Genji Sawai’s Sowaka stretches this idea limit. Myself, I think it’s exactly what Jazz should be: dangerous, provoking, and exploratory. A fusion of Japanese free-jazz with New York noise-punk shouldn’t work, then, yet again, who could ask for more? On…
Jorge Degas & Marcelo Salazar: Muxima (1987)

2018/01/30

Tread lightly, oh you who hate slap bass. Jorge Degas and Marcelo Salazar’s positively radiant Muxima has only two roles pushing all songs along: drum and percussion. Apropos they would remix Matisse’s “The Dance” into their own Afro-centered interpretative design. Deep, deep, Brazilian jazz funk that frequently oversteps its boundaries to go into the realm of…
Katsutoshi Morizono: 4:17 p.m. (1985)

2017/08/09

There’s an appeal to Katsutoshi Morizono’s 4:17 p.m. that can only be heightened, or fully appreciated, during summer, our current time of the year. Cycling from truly elegant compositions – a frequent, recurring theme lately on the blog – 4:17 p.m. mixes jazz fusion, post-bossanova, reggae, light mellow/City Pop, and even experimental bits of New Age…
Mendes & Mendes: Mendes & Mendes (1982)

2017/06/06

What’s this? Just some sweet, sweet Lusophonic magic, from the great African island nation of Cabo Verde. Music fitting that jaw-dropping album cover. The self-titled debut from brothers Gérard Mendés (also known as Boy Gé Mendes) and Jean-Claude Mendés displays the intriguing combination of Creole Portuguese-African polyrhythms, American boogie, and Brazilian samba the duo became huge stars among the Cabo Verde diaspora…
Joan Bibiloni: Joana Lluna (1982)

2016/12/30

I had a really hard time trying to justify posting this album. Not because the album isn’t great – it truly is – but because it didn’t seem this time of the year was appropriate for it. Joan Bibiloni’s Joana Lluna is the first masterpiece by the Mallorcan balearic master. What you hear in Joana…