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LP
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MYE 119LP
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Reissue, originally released in 1975. Enrique Luna was the son of Peruvian diplomats settled in Chile. He had lived and studied art in New York and for that reason he had first-hand knowledge of the current jazz scene: the last years of John Coltrane in the avant-garde and the mutation of Miles Davis to electric jazz. He had studied at Berklee College of Music in Boston and had an important collection of records by Davis himself and his disciples: Joe Zawinul, Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter, Miroslav Vitous. While Matías Pizarro, who had appeared in the mid '60s as a very young pianist, of outstanding technique, advanced ideas and notorious musical culture, was also returning from a period of study at Berklee. The workshop meetings, jam sessions, and auditions of new music were held at Pizarro's house, on Hernando de Aguirre and Eliodoro Yánez streets, and there was no jazz musician during those years who did not go through the experience of attending the initiation sessions. According to Chilean musicologist Álvaro Menanteau in his book Historia del jazz en Chile (2003), from the youngest (pianists Manuel Villarroel and Mario Lecaros, or drummers Patricio Villarroel and Pedro Greene), to the most experienced (saxophonists Patricio Ramírez and Sandro Salvati, or drummer Jaime Farfán), they frequented Pizarro's house and consolidated the core of musicians that faced the hard decade of the '70s. That was the seed of the foundation of Fusion, a group that adopted its name directly from the generic topic that began to understand and describe the music promoted mainly by Miles Davis in those years. In 1972, Fusion launched its project with the Luna-Pizarro-Salvati trio, using electric instrumentation, experimenting with rhythmic patterns of soul, funk and rock, but keeping intact the impulse of the original jazz improvisation and an important factor of Afro-Latin music, full of percussion. Although to record the album Top Soul (1975), the band ended up with soloists like David Estánovich (tenor sax) and Lautaro Rosas (guitar), plus a rhythm trio with Mario Lecaros (electric piano, ex-Village Trio), Enrique Luna (bass), and Orlando Avendaño (drums, ex-Nahuel Jazz Quartet), plus guests like trumpeter Daniel Lencina, and the young percussionist Santiago Salas (from the group Santa y su Gente).
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CD
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LION 673CD
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2023 restock. "Impossible to find jazz/soul/funk monster by Fusión, issued in Chile in 1975 by ALBA (ALD-041) -- a fulsome combination of funk, electric jazz, and soul, with Latin roots. Bassist Enrique Luna had lived and studied art in New York, and knew first-hand the last, avant-garde years of John Coltrane, and Miles Davis' mutation from hard bop trendsetter into an electric jazz pioneer; Matias Pizarro had appeared on the scene in the mid-'60s as a young pianist of outstanding technical ability and advanced ideas. Together they formed a band around a core of Peruvian musicians, with soloists including David Estánovich (tenor sax) and Lautaro Rosas (guitar), plus a rhythm trio of Mario Lecaros (electric piano, former Village Trio), and Orlando Avendaño (drums), with guest appearances by trumpeter Daniel Lencina, and young percussionist Santiago Salas (Santa y su gente). Censorship during the Chilean military regime meant heavy restrictions on artists. Thus the Fusión album was pressed in a very limited quantity, and never legally re-issued -- until now. Comes with a bi-lingual booklet which explores the story of Fusión in the context of the rich Chilean rock music scene."
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