Jazz-rock
fusion
has a bad reputation, and it should; some of the most embarrassing albums of the 1960s and '70s were made under the
flag, and the
jazz
world never fully recovered from the impact made by scores of synthesizer-wielding,
funk
-faking, chops-drunk fusioneers and their usually mediocre albums. But all that is not to say that a real, vital
of
and
rock
is impossible, and, in fact, a number of artists have shown that the two styles really can combine to create something greater than the sum of its parts.
Curlew
is a band that continues, almost 25 years into the game, to demonstrate just that fact. Led by saxophonist and composer
George Cartwright
, a mainstay of New York's downtown scene who has worked with everyone from
Fred Frith
Bill Laswell
to
Wayne Horvitz
and cellist
Tom Cora
,
deals in a raw, muscular brand of
avant
-
that retains all the gritty energy of
punk
and marries it to the free-spirited complexity of
avant-garde jazz
and the skronky abandon of downtown experimentalism. The center doesn't always hold, of course, and there are some disappointing moments on
Mercury
;
"Call,"
for example, loses shape eventually and stops being very interesting about halfway through. But the vaguely martial, mid-tempo strut of
"Late Date"
gives way beautifully to the almost ethereal weirdness of
"There Is,"
and the subtly complex rhythmic shifts and
bop
-flavored melody of
"Ludlow"
are also impressive. Best of all, perhaps, is the gently, lovely slide-guitar solo that leads into the sturdy groove of
"Song of New"
at the end of the program. Highly recommended. ~ Rick Anderson