The Jeff Lorber Fusion, a musical entity so synonymous with fusion jazz that its name is redundant, continues its renaissance with Impact, out earlier this month. Since their last go around Prototype, Jeff Lorber earned his first Grammy — for that album — in the ‘Best Contemporary Instrumental’ category, which is his first win in eight nominations.
Truth is, Lorber has earned such awards some forty years ago when the tight, uber-funky jazz grooves he made back then later provided endless fodder for hip-hop sampling. But finally bringing home a trophy only motivated him to accelerate his already-brisk album-every-other-year pace with his favorite collaborator of late, bass wunderkind Jimmy Haslip.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Impact picks up right where Prototype left off, including carrying over a murderer’s row of session aces. Along with Lorber and Haslip, saxophonist Andy Snitzer is the other official member of JLF as before and go-to drummer Gary Novak all but is. And then there’s a small contingent of ace musicians making guest appearances, and Dave Mann’s snappy horn arrangements should not be discounted, either. It’s the same formula Lorber has been using for his records of late, and it’s hard to argue for changing it. But what’s perhaps most prodigious about these records is how despite the productivity these releases maintain the JLF standard for sturdy song construction, tight group synergy and virtually flawless production. Impact shows no drop off.
“Sport Coat Makes Good” is a horn-driven, finger-snapping good, helped along by old-school rhythm guitars courtesy of Paul Jackson, Jr. and Lorber himself. Keeping it grounded, Lorber’s first aside is done on acoustic piano; his second on that signature Rhodes. Dave Mann’s horn chart that syncs up with Snitzer and Lorber provides the punch.
“Pasadena City” has a sophisticated, metropolitan drive and yet just as funky as the first tune, made more so by putting Haslip’s improv on the front end of it. Get used to seeing that adjective ‘funky’ here, it applies all over this record and that’s just the way it was intended.
“Citizenship” is as fresh and contemporary as they come but the compositional inspiration comes from Horace Silver’s Latin-styled blues he popularized in the late 50s/early 60s. That virtuosic piano solo is all Lorber though. By the way, this master of the electric piano and analog synths never once abandons the acoustic instrument, and he leaves room for a piano aside on every track that’s typically full of gospel, bop and RnB ingredients all rolled up into one.
Novak’s drive sends “Highline” into orbit but here again, Lorber crafts a thoughtful song, one that mixes a blues-based motif with modern bridges that keep the song from plodding with predictability. Haslip’s uniquely bubbling bass line sets the groove for “Opt In,” and Snitzer takes a melodic turn on soprano sax for this catchy tune.
The boys finally slow it down on “Quest,” giving Snitzer a chance to show off his David Sanborn sax stylings in the only spot on the album where the band catches its breath. “Sunny Sounds” returns to the groove, a crisply arranged number where Mann’s horn arrangements don’t bog it down at all. The syncopation between the horn section and the Lorber/John Roberts rhythm machine jumps out on “Companion.” Yes, that’s right: Lorber, on synth bass, plays a line that almost could have mistaken for Haslip and his Minimoog statements take us right back to his late 70s recordings.
Impact is the second Jeff Lorber Fusion release to come out of the Shanachie Entertainment label. That Grammy Glow sounds so sweet.
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