Over the years All Is Fused has explored new musical territories in order to expand their skills and find new forms of expression. Throughout this journey they have gone against standard, expected musical forms and explored outside their comfort zones, discovering new ways to write music that might lead to fresh sounds. However, the All Is Fused philosophy is not one to reject ideas, but of integrating them. Therefore, for this record, the ensemble decided to embrace these forms as a grounding device from which to innovate. Embrace Form is an album that explores the relationship between experimental instrumental music and popular music by leveraging familiar forms and enhancing or appropriating them to fit the ensemble’s expressive style. Tracks featuring common musical forms or compositional techniques such as verse-chorus (Explode), vamps (Friends, Memories, Loops), canon (Crystalline) are present as much as improvisational forms that are open (Cotati Reset) or that follow call-and-response patterns (Caribbean Mountains). These familiar forms are then modified to bring listeners something familiar with a twist. Take for example, Crystalline, where a common form such as a canon, which usually includes repeated motifs with added layers, in this case grows not just vertically (additional layers), but also horizontally (additional bars that add to the initial motifs). All Is Fused leverages conventional forms to keep moving beyond the constraints of current fusion, eschewing conventions and showcasing virtuoso playing without becoming self-indulgent. Embrace Form adds to the sextet’s body of work and continues to expand their sonic horizons creating enjoyable textures that can appeal to fans of progressive Jazz and non-fans alike.
Hailing from Brussels, Bandler Ching is a creation of musical ideas from composer and saxophonist Ambroos De Schepper (Kosmo Sound, Azmari and Mos Ensemble). Flawlessly blending contemporary jazz, electronics, trap, hip-hop and global beats, the sound is based around the freedom of expression and improvisation and performed with astounding conviction. With the help of Alan Van Rompuy (Azertyklavierwerke), Federico Pecoraro (ECHT!) and Olivier Penu (Kel Assouf), the four idiosyncratic artists come together to express their musical identity to dazzling effect. A hypnotic trip through each band members’ musical fantasies, the band have their roots in jazz. “We start from Jazz and we give it our own attitude with improvisation and a lot of freedom and eventually mix it with influences such as electronics, beats, hip-hop etc,” says De Schepper. From the free-spirited beauty of ‘You Call It’ and pulsating, loose beats of ‘Awpril’ to the luminous ‘Dag na Naamdag’ inspired by warm winter memories and wild summer dreams, De Schepper gives the sax a new place in its musical sphere. The album title refers to the band members' various musical influences that coalesce around one artistic centre. That centre is ‘Coaxial’ – a distinct sound with a clear identity, yet versatile and difficult to catergorise. Elsewhere, the bass-heavy ‘RoodGroen’ features Vieze Meisje (performer Maya Mertens) while the sonoric mayhem of ‘Smooch’ mutates without border – mischievous, dynamic and unpredictable at the same time. ‘Rave Fever’ is rich cataclysm of sound and rhythm while the intriguing ‘You Have Got Me’ and album closer ‘Kitsune’ showcase the magnetic soundings of Bandler Ching.
WAAN represents the musical marriage of seasoned saxophonist Bart Wirtz and keyboard wiz Emiel van Rijthoven. As a pair of self-confessed tech nerds hailing from The Netherlands, their bromance was a slow burning one, but nevertheless their eventual collaboration fulfilled a dream that they’d both held close since first working together back in 2010. KinK is the first single to be taken from the duo’s forthcoming debut album Echo Echo. The piece sprung to life during one of Bart and Emiel’s final recording sessions for the album, whilst working with session musicians Kasper Kalf (double bass), Jimmi Hueting (drums) as well as Oscar de Jong and Lucas Meijers who contributed to percussion. The recording started with a simple line on a Maestro Effect, using a tape echo, and what you hear is a very natural and easy Dr John voodoo style groove that came from the first two takes. The pair then took what they had of this very instinctive performance to Emiel’s studio and added harmonics, synth sounds, samples and a very percussive distorted clavinet to the groove. The key to this evocative and wondrous piece of music was to create percussive sounds from harmonic instruments and conjure up something otherworldly. With influences as disparate as Floating Points, BadBadNotGood and Eddie Harris, Echo Echo is far more complex than just being a dance music influenced jazz record. Co-producer Oscar de Jong, of Kraak & Smaak fame, encouraged the pair to play freely as part of a jazz group and then add the electronic elements. As a result the album owes as much to Duke Ellington and Lalo Schiffrin as it does NERD and The Eurythmics!
A definite conversation starter from tenorist Willie Morris – a rich-voiced player who steps out here in a set of mostly original material that really knocks things out of the park! Willie's got this way of wrapping his horn next to the alto of Patrick Cornelius – as the pair move things past conventional hardbop, maybe in the way that Hank Mobley or Lee Morgan were doing at Blue Note near the end of the 60s, but with a more conventional vibe as well – one that picks up plenty of energy from the rest of the group – Jon Davis on piano, Adi Meyerson on bass, and Ej Strickland on drums! There's a soaring, soulful quality to the whole thing that's wonderful – a shining moment from a leader we'll be watching in years to come – served up on titles that include "Keep Talking", "Azar", "Tina's Dream", "St Upton Hin", and "Cries", and "The Strength Of Those Who Bear The Burden". ~ Dusty Groove
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