By Ljubinko Zivkovic, Rock At Night Amsterdam
Review: Joan Torres’s All Is Fused album – Embrace Form – Release date: January 2024
Bassist Joan Torres leads the San Francisco septet All Is Fused, trying for years to musically pinpoint that intersection of jazz, post-rock and whatever else the band touches upon.
On their latest release ‘Embrace Form,’ the six musicians ( Jonathan Suazo: Alto Sax, Gabriel Vicéns: Guitar, Sergio González: Guitar, Emanuel Rivera: Piano and Keyboards, Fernando García: Drums and percussion, and Joan Torres: Bass), actually try to stay true to the title of the album.
At the same time, the six musicians try to put some musical substance behind that form – actually any form that they touch upon here.
That includes their variations on spiritual jazz (“Cotati Reset”), fusion (“Darker Decision”) while at the same time liberally crossing into post-rock territory, recalling at the same time Santana at his most experimental and post-rock innovators like Godspeed! You Black Emperor.
As musicians that have serious experience in jazz, improvising is something that comes natural to all of the band’s members, and they spray their vast musical knowledge all over the album.
Yet, the album luckily escapes the so prominent trap of artists venturing into jazz fusion of showing of the instrumental skills, leaving the music emotionally barren. It is true fusion that presents both skill and emotion – a combination that always works.
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