Joan Torres's All is Fused and the mercurial absolutely stunning jazz / rock fused "Unexpectations"

 

"Bassist, composer, producer Joan Torres lead Jazz Fusion ensemble All Is Fused."


"Unexpectations" is a fiery jazz fused track by San Francisco based Joan Torres's All is Fused lead by bassist, composer, producer Joan Torres (since 2011) and for me it a song that I easily get lost in. Not only artistically lost as in transported but actually lost (awkward chuckle). I am not an astute student or listener of jazz and sometimes jazz fusion, even math rock can be too much for me. It is not that I don't understand it, I think, rather it is that a lot is going on (sometimes all the time) and I don't think that I am wired to take in that much information that fast. So sometimes I just stay away. 

In this case I was magnetically pulled in by the rhythms by the absolutely mad drumming skills because I used to play drums (a long time ago). Once hooked in to this aspect, I could breath a bit. All the musicianship is of course just top shelf here as the song shape shifts a number of times dropping in a wonderful passage of what feels more avant garde rock-esque even proto punk-esque to me. The flurry of jam sessions within this song are just dazzling. The song is mercurial, malleable at will and exquisitely ID, or at least it feels like that to me, improvisational and free, the way jazz should be. Fucking amazing. 

"Unexpectations" is from Joan Torres's All is Fused's latest album "Embrace Form" and because I am literally ill equipped to speak articulately about the art forms it contains I am going to lean on press notey stuff below.  

[Embrace Form is an album that explores the relationship between experimental instrumental music and popular music by leveraging familiar forms and enhancing or appropriating them to fit the ensemble’s expressive style. Tracks featuring common musical forms or compositional techniques such as verse-chorus (Explode), vamps (Friends, Memories, Loops), canon (Crystalline) are present as much as improvisational forms that are open (Cotati Reset) or that follow call-and-response patterns (Caribbean Mountains). These familiar forms are then modified to bring listeners something familiar with a twist. Take for example, Crystalline, where a common form such as a canon, which usually includes repeated motifs with added layers, in this case grows not just vertically (additional layers), but also horizontally (additional bars that add to the initial motifs).

All Is Fused leverages conventional forms to keep moving beyond the constraints of current fusion, eschewing conventions and showcasing virtuoso playing without becoming self-indulgent. Embrace Form adds to the sextet’s body of work and continues to expand their sonic horizons creating enjoyable textures that can appeal to fans of progressive Jazz and non-fans alike.]

-Robb Donker Curtius

 

THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM 

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4a1VUZmpgfqodDigGv08rm

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOyBbMpO0o0wjzc7aCh6akA

https://joantorresallisfused.bandcamp.com/music

Over the years All Is Fused has explored new musical territories in order to expand their skills and find new forms of expression. Throughout this journey they have gone against standard, expected musical forms and explored outside their comfort zones, discovering new ways to write music that might lead to fresh sounds. However, the All Is Fused philosophy is not one to reject ideas, but of integrating them. Therefore, for this record, the ensemble decided to embrace these forms as a grounding device from which to innovate.


Joan Torres's All is Fused, bassist, composer, producer Joan Torres, jazz fusion, experimental, improvisational, virtuoso playing, rock fusion, "Unexpectations",