I get a lot of music for my consideration, more than 160 new releases so far this year. Almost all of them are notable for something, and I’d like to give them their due. So every week, I’ll do quick hits on the releases of the preceding seven days. it’s a great writing exercise, and a lot of fun, too.
This year’s anniversary of the release of Miles Davis’ “Bitches Brew” is a reminder that what was once called jazz-rock fusion music is now 50 years old. That’s a point when many of us start to show our age, but even in middle age, the danceable rhythms, electric instrumentation and virtuoso soloing continue to inspire.
European-born players such as Joe Zawinul, John McLaughlin and Jean-Luc Ponty bought early tickets on the fusion train. Polish-born pianist Bartosz Hadala keeps it rolling on “Three Short Stories.” His athletic, Toronto-based band touches the usual bases: bigfoot funk, technical brilliance and pretty balladry. Cuban-born alto saxophonist Luis Deniz adds some welcome spice and drummer Marito Marques locks down the Steely Dan vibe with the Pretty Purdie triplet shuffle feel under Hadala’s playful “Monk’s Unfinished Symphony.” If fusion music has two sides, both earth and sky, body and spirit, “Three Short Stories” honors the former.
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