CAB4

CAB4 on Mascot Records, (M 7079 2) [66:49], just flew in from the Netherlands into my CD player and I am lovin' it. It's all too rare when I can pop in a CD and relish it the whole way through -- on a first listen too.

MacAlpine, Brunel, Auger, & Chambers have done it again. And a major bravo to Patrice Rushen on seriously superb Chick Corea-ish keyboardscapes and soloing!!

This release gives me the same feelings I got upon hearing RTF's Romantic Warrior the first time. Yeah, it is all that -- jazz fusion so tight, so slick, so melodic, so well executed, and compositions so engaging that it deserves a 12.5 out of 10. It is a laid-back groove in many spots but smokes enough here and there to satisfy hard-core fusion rockers needing egde and dymanics. It is not anywhere as dense and frenzied as Romantic Warrior weighed in so long ago but listen -- these guys could easily have pulled off a near perfect clone-tribute to RTF and thus gone the way of -- well ya know -- "that's nice, what else can ya do?" . . . Instead we get a solid 21st-century fusion groove that perfectly demonstrates how high-quality jazz fusion can be without all the extended "look-at-me" blowing going on.

The virtuosity of everyone is screaming out in the controlled unison lines, balanced voicing, tones, and phrasings. Be it bass, keys, axe or drums -- this release is magic! It's gonna be really hard for me to choose a favorite track!

In a nutshell, all you fusion fans who already own this -- you know what I mean dontcha -- and the rest of you folks need this NOW!