Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Planet Z: Rob Tomaro and Susan Aquila and Company Fuse It


You may note that fusion seems to be re-emerging after some years where for various reasons it was anathema in certain circles. It turns out that circles can influence the music, but they cannot stop a style dead in its tracks. And so they could not and did not.

Planet Z (Blue Chair) gives you a 30-minute look at the violin of Susan Aquila along with the compositions and guitar of Rob Tomaro and some good key, bass, drums support. Her violin lifts things up and so does Rob's guitar. The compositions are well-pieced-together chunks of classic fusion, rechanneling for today the legacy of Cobham, Corea, Ponty and Mclaughlin.

It's well done and a good start. They have not broken through to a totally original sphere at this point, but that may come in time. Ms. Acquila and Mr. Tomaro play enough solo-wise to get the juices flowing. So flow with it. If you are a die-hard fusionist you will hear the sort of thing you expect and no doubt that will please you. I look to future albums to continue to develop the music in a more original direction. As it is there are some very nice moments and a classic orientation.

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