LEO GENOVESE: Seeds
Palmetto, 2013

STRANGE JAZZ – What a ride! Argentine pianist Genovese brings a big bag of tricks to this CD, switching madly between a range of keyboard instruments, mixing up fusion, free-form, space-pop and postbop in a swirling stew. His band, “the Chromatic Gauchos,” keeps up with each crazy step. Star bassist Esperanza Spalding is here too, but only on vocals (often without words). A very impressive album.

Fo’s Picks: 2, 3, 4, 6, 8, 9, 11

1. 4:09 – mysterious jumble settles into a strange sidelong creep…
2. 7:03 – forceful acoustic quartet: sax/piano fly down the line, speedy drums
3. 2:33 – neo-fusion: chopped up start, then swirls w/wailing sax & fast drums
4. 3:57 – upbeat hopping bop with oddball unison theme, spinning lines
5. 2:03 – solo piano, dark and emotive
6. 10:19 – channeling Wayne Shorter: adventurous, churning fusion with saxes pulling the rest forward through weird rooms, wordless vox
7. 4:36 – fractured spiral, falls into synth swirl, marches through plastic land
8. 3:38 – chugging trio: parallel piano lines inside a thick beat, false ending!
9. 2:19 – brief acoustic quartet flare-up, sax burns brightly and gets out
10. 8:25 – different band, full vocal: very mysterious melody, then dark and rock-like with wild sax breaks, churns ominously towards the end
11. 9:26 – lightly rolling fusion groove with Genovese on 7 instruments; gets silly once he starts playing them all at once, but it’s fun too

[ Fo ] - 15 September 2013