When you speak about fusion within
jazz, it’s usually about that genre which was very big in 70ies and 80ies.
Fusion can also be understood as a
mixture. Robin Taylor is a fusionist who
creates musical collages. He mixes different styles and pieces of music, sticks
them together until it’s almost a micro symphony.
In 70ies this was something you
heard from different people like Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Mike Oldfield.
Robil Taylor is a jazz-rock-shark,
who preys on this genre. When you hear a number like Munich, the thought of
collage is very evident. He weaves different parts together: in the beginning
you enjoy Karsten Vogel’s soprano saxophone and delicious keyboards. After that
it’s a juicy tenor saxophone played by Jakob Mygind with an organ underneath.
All on top of stadion-rock-drums from Klaus Thrane. Then it’s a fine female
voice and that’s the way it plays for the first 10 minutes. Shifting and changing
in different parts .
Robin Taylor himself plays bass,
guitar, keyboard and various on the album. He gets assistance from the
musicians mentioned above together with trumpet player Hugh Steinmetz who has a
beautiful intro on the opening track Floating Rats. Guitarist Jon Hemmersam is
on the album too, where he plays a string of solos.
Maybe this current album is the best
jazz-rock-album Robin Taylor has released (he has done some very interesting
free-jazz-albums too).
He is wandering in many different
directions at the same time, but somehow he finds his way home, while he is
telling an exciting story which keeps your ears occupied.
it’s also worth mentioning that
Taylor is making a comment on Danish military actions in Afghanistan with the
title Jens in Afganistan.
It starts with a long march on the
drums added a trumpet and a kind of poor flute on the keyboard together with
politicians speaking on top of one another. It is a strain to listen to it, but
then after three minutes the number unfolds in a
wild-and-cool-Miles-Davis-jazz-rock-inspiration.
So even if the shoes on the cover of
Worn Out and the genre Robin Taylor inhabits aren’t as fresh as a Mac-computer,
it still is a relevant album. Especially for people who are addicted to grand
and symphonic jazz-rock.
Review: Niels Overgård. Translation:
DSI Swinging Europe.
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