During the seventies, fusion in all its shapes and forms was at its height, but further on, its influence waned somewhat, but never went away. It seems though, that, like prog rock, its hotbed has its pockets around the world, with continental Europe being one of them.
These days, artists dabbling with fusion also try to include as many elements from elsewhere, whether it is library music, one of its more lightweight cousins or folk. With all of the above in mind, it is where Bucharest, Romania, composer and pianist Mischa Blanos comes in with his new album Take Control.
With the usual fusion mixture of jazz rock and classical, Blanos brings in touches of library/cinematic music, along with his obvious knowledge of Romanian folk, the latter particularly evident on ‘Busted’ here. At the same time, Blanos exhibits technical elements that are essential to good fusion – strong compositional skills and excellent instrumental technique.
Yet, he tries to avoid as many elements as possible that are considered fusion’s pitfalls – overburdening the music with show-off technical skills that can at some point, become meaningless except to the artists themselves. Essentially, Blanos does take control of this album, keeping the fusion flame alive and well.
