Like a Japanese mix of Bitches Brew and Dark Magus (including some of Miles Davis' mid-70's personnel) with Terumasa Hino on trumpet sounding much like Davis himself! A-list Kozmigroov, and very highly recommended.
Dusty Groove said:
An excellent mid 70s Japanese fusion set, led by the Gil Evans protege Masabumi Kikuchi - with a very similar group to the one on his awesome Susto LP!
The vibe isn't quite as funky on this outing - in fact it's a bit more reminiscent of Miles' spacey electric explorations - though there are some pretty hard groovin' moments should definitely appeal to fans of funky fusion.
Steve Grossman and Dave Liebman play some nice coloristic lines on reeds, and Terumasa Hino is in fine form on trumpet. The rest of the group is rounded out by Reggie Lucas on guitar playing some hard choppy accompaniment to Kikuchi's synths and electric piano, Mtume on percussion, Al Foster on drums and Anthony Jackson on bass.
Destination Out said:
For the first three minutes of "Auroral Flare" you'll be excused for thinking you're listening to Japanese traditional music.
The band finally coalesces around the 3:15 mark, adding some stately trumpet along with organ tone rows lifted directly from the "Rated X" playbook.
Now if you're strictly looking for kick-ass fusion, fast-forward to the 5:45 mark. Here's where the song changes gears again. Enter a snaking bass line. An armada of keyboards helps establish the percolating funky rhythmic bed.
Layers of processed sounds rub past and against one another, cut-and-paste stylee, recalling a less jarring version of Dark Magus - not surprising, considering the personnel overlaps.
The final two-thirds of the track may be the kozmigroovy crowd-pleaser, but it's Auroral Flare's insistence on blending and bridging the traditional and fusion elements which makes it extraordinary.
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