Culturally magnificent peerless jazz Dongfeng Liu – CHINA CARIBE: One thing this ancient listener can guarantee you – this is music that you have never heard before… Dongfeng’s piano work (in & of itself) is refreshing and full-bodied, but when he adds his high-talent, high-energy players (John Benitez Electric bass, Acoustic bass, Roberto Quintero Percussion # 1 – 5, 7, Francis Benitez Drums, Min Xiaofen Ruan # 1, Pipa # 3, 5 Feifei Yang Erhu # 7, Special Guests: Hanggai Band Mongolian horsehead fiddle, Mongolian throat singing # 1), you wind up with one of the tastiest and most diverse jazz sets you will ever listen to! First, though, before I critique the individual songs, take a quick look at this superb trailer that Dongfeng uses to introduce the album…
…if that isn’t a true fusion of cultures, then I can’t tell you what is… there’s one keyword that describes the entire album – UNIQUE! Be sure you SUBSCRIBE to Dongfeng’s YouTube channel, too… & keep it on your watchlist… I expect you’ll be seeing and hearing much more exciting music there!
The album isn’t set to release until June 8th, so the sample links I’ve added in won’t work until just before then… I just LOVED Dongfeng’s piano on “Mirror Image“… the blend with the percussion is raw energy, and the keyboard is just scintillating – you’ll be listening to this tune over & over again – NO DOUBT in my mind!
On the 5:47 opener, “In The Clouds“, you’ll be as astounded as I was by the incorporation of Mongolian throat singing… yet, it’s full-fledged jazz, not a half-hearted attempt to “integrate” something just for the sake of integration… BEAUTIFULLY done.
Dongfeng’s tribute to John Coltrane, “Coltrane’s Tune“, has some of the “loosest” & pleasantly floating piano I’ve ever listened to (& that’s really saying something, because I’ve listened to a LOT of music, folks)… John would have been proud of this great piece.
My personal favorite of the eight long songs offered up, though, is the closer, “Moophy“… the changes and exchanges between Dongfeng’s piano and John’s bass are just fantastic, and this tune (along) makes the purchase of the album well worth it.
I give Dongfeng and his highly professional players a MOST HIGHLY RECOMMENDED, with an “EQ” (energy quotient) rating of a (perfect) 5.00 – which means that it also gets my “PICK” for “best fusion jazz album”. Get more information on the Zoho Records page for the release. Rotcod Zzaj
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