Hello,
For those of you who are looking for an album pushing the limits of
the cross-polination of DnB and Jazz aesthetics, I'd like to suggest
Ponga's self-titled album that came out recently. Instrumentation
consists of saxaphone, keyboards, samplers and Bobby Previte laying down
some impressive DnB beats (not quite as impressive as some stuff I've
seen him do live though). This album should satisfy those of you
complaining about the jazzy-electronic music subgenre not going anywhere
new. Its all improvised and recorded live with no overdubs. Anyone who
listens to Critters Buggin (whose sax player Skerik can be heard on
Ponga) has some sort of an idea of what to expect, but the addition of
Wayne Horvitz on keyboards gives it an extra jazzy kick in the pants.
One song in particular reminds me of some of Horvitz's organ trio type
dabblings. Anyway, pick up this album and see the band live if you have
the chance. This is the kind of direction I hope we'll eventually see a
lot of great improvisers possibly go.
Anyway, I was also gonna mention some thing about the distinctions
between fusion and free jazz and whatnot pertaining to TJ and Clifford
Gilberto, but I think I might have lost what I was trying to say. Here
goes: I'd consider "Music is" to be a combination of some fusion, funk,
and a lot of free improv with a lot of sonic experimentation for good
measure. No one can deny that its a pretty incredibly dynamic album,
but to say "'music is rotted one note' is unmistakably fusion jazz."
doesn't settle with me. Can we say that the live Miles Davis albums
from the seventies are strictly fusion? Have a listen to Dark Magus.
This album, to me, while taking much from rock beats and fusiony sounds
is predominantly a free jazz album. I'm by no means the be-all-end-all
opinion, but when I think of fusion, the sounds I think of most are
bands like Lifetime, Return To Forever, Weather Report, etc. All these
bands usually have complex song structure in addition to harmonic
structure. And while I think "Music is" is an amazing album, it doesn't
exhibit much in the way of any sort of structure. Clifford Gilberto on
the other hand at times seems even less fusiony than Tom. Some of his
songs are more loungy/exotica while others just sound like cut-up jazz.
Pigeonholing Gilberto to being a cheesy electronic fusion musician seems
really limited. Let's save those labels for bands like Flanger, who by
the way I actually like to some extent but, jesus christ! Some of the
grooves on that album sound freshly ripped from the ominous "Chameleon"
except with a piano soloist far inferior to Herbie.
Anyway, I'm spitting this all at once and posting w/o proofreading,
and I'm sure I'm wrong about plenty of things... so someone shoot me
down if I am!
-Aaron