THAVE YOU HEARD?
By Doug Robinson, March 2, 2007

Unforgettable Fusion

In the early ‘70s, the music industry co-opted the word “fusion” for its own uses. I went to the dictionary to get a technical definition and was amused to see that the musical use has achieved dictionary-worthy status. After a few scientific meanings dealing with liquefying or melting materials and merging them, I found this rather quaint definition:

5. Music that blends jazz elements and the heavy repetitive rhythms of rock. Also called jazz-fusion, jazz-rock.

Let’s put aside the fact that the music typically referred to as “fusion“ when it first hit the scene was almost ridiculously complex compared to the “repetitive” rhythms of rock ‘n roll (Early fusion pioneers Mahavishnu Orchestra astounded crowds by playing high energy music with a rock flavor, but using East Indian time signatures.). The definition also falls short because it only describes the blending of two specific styles, jazz and rock. In truth, the term is used much the same way in music as it is in cooking or any other creative venture where blending of influences or materials occurs. Fusion can represent a deliberate attempt to create a new genre by combining key aspects of two or more genres.

And it can also be a cliché. Artists today take the globalization of music for granted. With the proliferation of samples, it’s all too easy for a kid in a bedroom studio in Illinois to drop in a pre-recorded loop of, say, an Indian tabla drum into his recording. That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t actually represent the world of Indian classical music so much as adding a slight exotic flair to his pop song.

While I’ve always been a fan of blending styles, I’ve been concentrating heavily on fusion since Tim Hazell and I started composing A Forest of Americas, which premiered at St. Paul’s in January. The goal was to blend classical, jazz and pre-Hispanic music in some meaningful way. Since I’m neither a classically-trained composer nor an ancient Aztec, this was a daunting challenge. We approached it by studying the sounds of pre-Hispanic instruments. Of course, there were no recordings, written musical notations or video clips from “Aztec Idol” available to review, so our imagination got to run free—although the limitations of the specific instruments at our disposal were very helpful. I don’t care who you are: You can’t really write a soaring melody for a tortoise shell played with deer antlers.

How well we succeeded in logically integrating the many sonic elements before us is something for the listener to decide on March 24 at the Teatro Ángela Peralta, when we reunite our international ensemble to perform the piece, complete with a brand new movement and new opening music by Roli Fernandez and Maureen Conlon Gutierrez.

Whereas Tim and I worked from the outside in, flamenco pianist Chano Dominguez did the opposite. As a young boy growing up in Spain, he absorbed the reckless passion of his father’s flamenco records and taught himself to play first, guitar and then, piano. In a genre dominated by guitarists, I’m not sure if he knew how unusual it would sound to translate some of the patented harmonies of the music to a keyboard. If you are anything like me, even the best flamenco guitar music is a little exhausting after a period of enjoyment. In the end, I usually want to like it a lot more than I do. But hearing some of the same music done on a piano, with rich harmonics and lovely sustaining chords—is another story.

Guitarist Billy White introduced me to Dominguez’ brilliant album Hecho a Mano, and I recommend it highly. It is classic fusion in the sense that Chano is also a black belt jazz player, and that spin is evident on almost every track. His band typically features some combination of drumset, tabla, bass and handclaps, along with a wonderful guitarist who pops in and out. He plays mostly originals, but his stunning take on Bill Evans’ Turn Out the Stars and Thelonious Monk’s Bemsha Swing leave no doubt that flamenco and jazz music have a lot in common.

I have no way of knowing how flamenco purists around the world are responding to this extraordinary talent—I imagine he has met some resistance from the old guard. But if you have always suspected that there might be more to flamenco music than you have been able to appreciate, try to find Hecho a Mano (I have been buying copies for my friends at half.com.) and see how it feels to sit between two music worlds.

Doug Robinson is a composer and multi-instrumentalist.