Mmm... jazz-fusion...
I somehow doubt jazz-fusion aficionados are one of our key demographics here at Room Thirteen, but never the less, music is made every day in all shapes and forms: generic to unspecific, loud to quiet, dark to light, and in the midst of it all, lies jazz-fusion, rock's highly technical, but sometimes misunderstood, eldest uncle.
It's always nice to have a change, to see how the unholy fusion of rock and jazz can be mastered and implemented by some of the unspoken technical elders of modern music, so "Flashpoint", one quartet's contribution to this unusual world of music, should hopefully drag some new fans into the fold.
"Flashpoint" is primarily the brainchild of Steve Smith and Dave Liebman. Steve Smith has drummed for and led Vital Information for an age, whilst Dave Liebman has been playing the tenor and alto saxophones for over 30 years, playing sidekick to men like Elvin Jones, and the pioneer of jazz-fusion, Miles Davis - these are men who know their field - every last nuance and blade of grass. They are joined on this album by keyboardist and dark-horse of a composer, Aydin Esen, and Anthony Jackson, a bassist with at least 400 credits to his name. Seriously, this isn't your random amalgamation of minds fuelled with piss and angst - this is jazz-fusion, technical stuff made by the Einsteins and Curies of the musical world.
The opener and title track, "Flashpoint" is Liebman's first vigorous and lively effort here, showcasing the almost-random yet ever-so-calculated lump of technical wizardry that prevails here. Forget guitar solos, Liebman and Esen fire woodwind synth and saxophone solos off each other like an unlimited supply of bullets. "Like John" takes a more subdued approach, something people would usually consider to be the more "normal" sound of jazz, that laid-back chill that can really calm the mind.
Aydin Esen's first composition, "Particles", is another slow-paced walk through the park, mellow saxophone and piano working beautifully against each other. Of course, songs like this are rarely composed in full - a major staple of jazz-fusion being improvisation - some of the music here will be improvised, a skill that, when mastered, can become completely indistinguishable from planned music. Esen's second effort "Speak Without Words", speeds up and delivers a punchy piece with plenty of groove from Jackson's fine bass playing.
"The Gentle Warrior", dedicated to Bob Berg, a saxophonist who died in a car accident in December 2002 continues the mellow jazz groove with plenty of seventh and diminished jagged chords from Esen, combined with his improvised soloing, leading the flow. I described Aydin Esen as a dark-horse of a composer earlier, because, despite this album being officially credited to Smith/Liebman, Esen ranks as many composer credits in the track listing as Liebman. His next piece, "Fabric of Reality", keeps the mellow feel, but adds in weird scales to be improvised over with odd rhythms, providing the sense of randomness which I personally consider to be a major part of jazz-fusion. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing though, it keeps the piece interesting, that's for sure.
"Yildiz" is the only cover song, if you will, on this album, a composition from Phil Markowitz, a frequent collaborator with Liebman. This piece demonstrates the classic experimentation ideal of jazz-fusion, with Smith adding an Indian ghatam (principally a clay pot) to his kit, whilst Liebman plays the Indian bamboo flute, before switching back to the saxophone. The piece takes a Middle Eastern feel for it, but still retains that classic jazz allusion in the background the whole time. Dave Liebman's final effort, "Maid in the Mist", a song he wrote 30 years previously, opens with slow flanged synth chords, setting the wheels in motion for an atmospheric piece which sets the listener up for the final battleground of a composition.
Things kick off with a minute-long drum solo from Steve Smith, entitled "Khanda West" - combining the idea of counting in five ("Khanda") and the western musician - which shows off Smith's rhythmic (and surprisingly melodic) skills on the drum kit. This solo then flows directly into "Edge of Tomorrow" - Aydin Esen's final contribution to "Flashpoint". Another fast-paced affair with plenty of unison performance and soloing from Esen and Liebman, "Edge of Tomorrow" features an almost atonal breakdown, where the musicians go nuts with their skills and showcase what years of practice can obviously do to a man. It's not to everyone's tastes, certainly, but then again, it could be right up your alley, so give yourself something new to listen to - hear some masters at work and maybe be inspired to start some jazz-fusion yourself if you're the instrumentally-inclined. "Flashpoint" is certainly a good place to dip the toe in.