FRICKA, I LOVE ME SOME JAZZ FUSION WITH THAT TRANQUIL KEYBOARD SCHNITT, YESSSSSSSSSSSS!!!
The music of bassist Roberto Badoglio will be for those who love the sounds of Weather Report, Return To Forever, and The Mahavishnu Orchestra. Re-Evaluation Time (Space Rack) may sound of a time long ago, but it’s very much of the now because the music you love is very much timeless. It still sounds good because it gives you a good feeling, and Badoglio knows all the right spots to hit with his playing. One of my favorite moments of “Scirocco’s Theory” is right within his solo, the bass pans back and forth in the speakers, catching me off guard but somehow fitting at that exact moment. Keyboardist Steve Hunt gets into his Jan Hammer/Joe Zawinul groove and the music as a whole keeps getting higher from that point on.
In tracks like “Inner Urge”, “Dojo”, and “The song of The Wine, The Wind and The Trees”, it feels very much like jazz but there is a unique European dinge, not sure if it’s the folk melodies or the fact that some American musicians have forgotten this style of jazz, to the point of abandoning it. Together, Badoglio, Hunt, drummers Pablo de Biasi and Marty Richards come into the mix as tourists and ambassadors, in other words, they are students and teachers, made very clear in “Perfect Landing”, which almost sounds like Earth, Wind & Fire‘s “Can’t Hide Love”, sans horn section. Badoglio’s bass work is a trip to hear, wringing the neck and fingering his way into patterns and time signatures unknown while creating something that sounds full, developed, and at times orchestral, ready made for a sound much better he himself me realize.
That full sound comes courtesy of keyboardist Hunt, who also produced and mastered the album. It sounds like there are at least eight to ten people in the studio but there’s only three. I could see this being used for surf or ocean movies/documentaries, as it has a sense of peace and harmony that is very comforting to me. There are subtle touches throughout, such as accented percussion in the back of the mix, or the combination of piano and keyboards in unison with the bass riffs, that just take this home, and hopefully many will feel the same way.
This Is Book's Music 