The Fusion Syndicate
The Fusion Syndicate
Purple Pyramid Records
2012
Billy Sherwood must be a very busy man lately. For those who are not aware of Billy, I have to tell that he is a producer, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and engineer that has played with several bands (Yes, CIRCA:, Lodgic, World Trade, Conspiracy, Yoso, solo) and has also participated in numerous albums. He’s into progressive music, while he likes to blend rock, jazz and fusion parts together.
His new project is called The Fusion Syndicate and apart from producing & recording the album he has written the music as well. All these despite the fact that he’s also about to release his new solo work in the next weeks! The album is featuring 7 long (about 7-8 minutes each) songs of smooth, prog rock, jazz & fusion music. Once you read who’s who on the album, you will be taken away! The avant-garde of prog rock, jazz & fusion music is present on this CD. Take a deep breath and read for on each song, we’ve got different groups of musicians that are participating.
Artists taking part in the album are many… so we have: starting from the first song “Random Acts of Science”, Rick Wakeman (Yes), Jerry Goodman (Mahavishnu Orchestra), Nik Turner (Hawkwind), Jimmy Haslip (Yellowjackets/Alan Holdsworth), on the second song “Stone Cold Infusion”, Steve Stevens, Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater/Liquid Tension Experiment), Mel Collins (King Crimson), Colin Edwin (Porcupine Tree), Billy Cobham (Mahavishnu Orchestra), on the third “Molecular Breakdown”, Jay Beckenstein (Spyrogyra), Billy Sheehan (Steve Vai), Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree), David Sancious (The E Street Band), on the fourth “Particle Accelerations”, Larry Coryell, Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater/Black Country Communion), Eric Marienthal (Chick Corea Elektric Band), Chester Thompson (Genesis/Frank Zappa), on the fifth “At the Edge of the Middle”, Steve Morse (Dixie Dreggs/Deep Purple), Jim Beard (Mahavishnu Orchestra), Randy Brecker (Blood, Sweat & Tears/Brecker Brothers), Percy Jones (Soft Machine/Brand X), on the sixth “Atom Smashing”, John Etheridge (Soft Machine), Tony Kaye (Yes), Chad Wackerman (Frank Zappa) and finally on the seventh “In the Spirit of”, Steve Hillage (Gong), Scott Kinsey (Tribal Tech), Theo Travis (Steven Wilson Band), Justin Chancellor (Tool), Asaf Sirkis (The Orient House Ensemble). Very impressive line-up do ya think?
With references mostly to classic jazz-fusion albums such as “Bitches Brew” by Miles Davis (it was presented on the “old” Hall of Fame – we’ll add it one of these days to the new one) with some use of the trumpet and sax, twists of rhythms, lots of improvisation along with a smooth jazz-rock background… this album will overwhelm all the friends of jazz-fusion music. The performances on the album are amazingly good (how could they not?!) and the strong and crystal clear production with Billy’s wonderful musical ideas make this album a quality piece of music no matter if you’re into this music style or not. Should you appreciate & relish qualitative, skillful, smart, smooth, prog, jazz-fusion music then it’s actually hard to miss this album. Billy has made it once again… I’m just waiting to listen to his new solo album at the moment…
His new project is called The Fusion Syndicate and apart from producing & recording the album he has written the music as well. All these despite the fact that he’s also about to release his new solo work in the next weeks! The album is featuring 7 long (about 7-8 minutes each) songs of smooth, prog rock, jazz & fusion music. Once you read who’s who on the album, you will be taken away! The avant-garde of prog rock, jazz & fusion music is present on this CD. Take a deep breath and read for on each song, we’ve got different groups of musicians that are participating.
Artists taking part in the album are many… so we have: starting from the first song “Random Acts of Science”, Rick Wakeman (Yes), Jerry Goodman (Mahavishnu Orchestra), Nik Turner (Hawkwind), Jimmy Haslip (Yellowjackets/Alan Holdsworth), on the second song “Stone Cold Infusion”, Steve Stevens, Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater/Liquid Tension Experiment), Mel Collins (King Crimson), Colin Edwin (Porcupine Tree), Billy Cobham (Mahavishnu Orchestra), on the third “Molecular Breakdown”, Jay Beckenstein (Spyrogyra), Billy Sheehan (Steve Vai), Gavin Harrison (Porcupine Tree), David Sancious (The E Street Band), on the fourth “Particle Accelerations”, Larry Coryell, Derek Sherinian (Dream Theater/Black Country Communion), Eric Marienthal (Chick Corea Elektric Band), Chester Thompson (Genesis/Frank Zappa), on the fifth “At the Edge of the Middle”, Steve Morse (Dixie Dreggs/Deep Purple), Jim Beard (Mahavishnu Orchestra), Randy Brecker (Blood, Sweat & Tears/Brecker Brothers), Percy Jones (Soft Machine/Brand X), on the sixth “Atom Smashing”, John Etheridge (Soft Machine), Tony Kaye (Yes), Chad Wackerman (Frank Zappa) and finally on the seventh “In the Spirit of”, Steve Hillage (Gong), Scott Kinsey (Tribal Tech), Theo Travis (Steven Wilson Band), Justin Chancellor (Tool), Asaf Sirkis (The Orient House Ensemble). Very impressive line-up do ya think?
With references mostly to classic jazz-fusion albums such as “Bitches Brew” by Miles Davis (it was presented on the “old” Hall of Fame – we’ll add it one of these days to the new one) with some use of the trumpet and sax, twists of rhythms, lots of improvisation along with a smooth jazz-rock background… this album will overwhelm all the friends of jazz-fusion music. The performances on the album are amazingly good (how could they not?!) and the strong and crystal clear production with Billy’s wonderful musical ideas make this album a quality piece of music no matter if you’re into this music style or not. Should you appreciate & relish qualitative, skillful, smart, smooth, prog, jazz-fusion music then it’s actually hard to miss this album. Billy has made it once again… I’m just waiting to listen to his new solo album at the moment…