MIXTUS ORBIS

Imagine the Mothers of Invention at their most serious and technical - say, as on the King Kong suite on Uncle Meat - and sprinkle on Indian instrumentation and musical traditions to back up the jazz fusion foundations, and you might arrive at something close to the furious workouts captured on Clivage's Mixtus Orbis. Andre Fertier's group share the billing with an orchestra, which lends some classical sweep to the intense playing on offer here. I often find progressive rock incorporating elements of Indian music to be a clumsy, hit and miss affair, but here Fertier seems to hit on a more successful version of the approach John McLaughlin took with Shakti - combining fast-paced Indian music with similarly rapid fusion to create an intriguing mix. Could do without the orchestral embellishments, mind.