The 1970s get ripped on pretty hard in some jazz circles, because it saw the birth of the fusion that led to what’s commonly referred to as smooth jazz.  But where smooth jazz was a degradation (or complete abandonment) of the foundation of jazz, much of the fusion of the 1970s was a launching pad into some seriously inventive explorations of jazz music and its relationships with other musics of the world.  One avenue that yielded some especially nifty dividends was where jazz avant-garde meshed with Latin Jazz and psychedelic rock.  The improvisational forays of avant-garde and the rich polyrhythms of Latin Jazz might seem of contradictory natures, but they have meeting points, and making those connections happen could be facilitated by the rich dynamism of psychedelic rock, which possessed a duality of wandering solos and structured rhythmic devices.

The ensemble Sr. Langosta provides an updated version of that particular fusion.  El Experimento Caribeño is a wealth of rhythmic displays.  The ensemble digs into a groove and then lets loose additional percussive fireworks and melodic strands to pass like ripples over the rhythmic surface.  And while most of the album is swimming in deep rhythms full of turbulence, occasionally the ensemble breaks into patient exhalations of melody like on the beautiful “Insular” and the simmering boil of “Ha Sido La Bruja.”  A fiery solo from electric guitar on “Funk You!” and the space-y effects accompanying the melody on “Cerdos de Cuello Blanco” and “Electrik-Tukumán” and how this flows seamlessly into vibraphone and trumpet solos… it all speaks to how these different forms of expression can exist in the same confluence.

But not to be lost in the historical context and cerebral abstractions is that El Experimento Caribeño is very fun music, and is far more likely to inspire the feet to motion than the brain to ruminate.

Your album personnel:  J.A. Ferreras (electric guitar), Manuel Rodriguez (electric bass), Gamaliel Santiago (drums), Alexandra Rivera (piano, rhodes, organ), Timothy Cooper (congas, vibraphone, percussion), Daniel Ramírez (trumpet, flugelhorn), Francisco Cruz (alto & baritone saxophones), Janice Maisonet (tenor sax), Isaías Sánchez (trombone), Jair Rodriguez Thomas (flute), Jorge L. Morales (didgeridoo, tablas) and Fabián Wilkins (synths, loops).

Released on Ropeadope Records.

Listen to more of the album at the artist’s Bandcamp page.

Music from San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon | eMusic

The winning characteristic of the electro-acoustic project from trombonist Filippo Vignato is how he keeps teasing at the complete and total immersion into electronic effect dissonance, right up to the point where an organic melody breaks through like a bold sun parting thick clouds.  He hints at this approach on the second track of his 2016 release Plastic Breath.  It’s a muddy haze of electronics to start things out, but then Vignato’s trombone comes through with a crisp melody and immediately begins expanding its horizon line.  Meanwhile, the Fender Rhodes and drums of Yannick Lestra and Attila Gyarfas stake out territory of their own.  In the former instance, it’s outlining the path of the melody, while in the latter, it’s forging a path ahead with clear lines of demarcation.  The electronic effects are still there, but now they’re merely background scenery to the post-bop main attraction.  But there’s an ebb and flow to it, and the transitions from one state to the other rarely, if ever, culminate fully into either extreme.  “Red Sky Hymn” further cements this pattern, while showing that it can play out at higher speeds, too.

The thing to keep in mind is that none of this would be nearly as successful were it not for the embraceable melodies offered up by the trio.  Whereas the electronic fog can come off as impenetrable, it’s essential for the melodies to counterbalance that with inviting expressions, emitting a warmth that compels the ear to reach out and meet the sound halfway.  This is something Vignato’s trio does time and time again on this intriguing album.  It’s a quality seen most clearly with the gorgeous melodic trombone sighs on “Provvisorio” and how Fender Rhodes keeps laying them on thicker, accompanied by the susurrant crash of cymbals.

There’s a sense that this is an updated version of the 1990’s electro-acoustic projects of Bobby Previte and Wayne Horvitz.  But where they often anchored their songs to a cinematic brew of folk music, Vignato works from a European Jazz perspective… but the interplay between organic and electronic voicings is a shared quality of both.

Really, just a seriously intriguing album.  It’s attuned to cerebral appetites, but there are moments on this recording that are an open channel straight to the heart.

Your album personnel:  Filippo Vignato (trombone, effects), Yannick Lestra (Fender Rhodes, bass synth, effects) and Attila Gyarfas (drums, percussion).

Released on Auand Records.

Listen to more of the album at the artist’s Soundcloud page.

Music from Italy.

Available at:  Amazon