js Although George Brooks has been performing Indo jazz fusion for quite some time, his name was new to me until I received this recent release by him, ‘Spirit and Spice’ and what a great release it is. This is one of the freshest takes on Indo fusion I have heard in a while and one of the finest jazz CDs to come out in 2010. George pushes himself hard on here to avoid the clichés and comes up with some truly unique and creative tunes and arrangements. A lot of this CD’s strength is in the arrangements where special care is given to avoid monotony as instruments come and go in the mix and there is a realization of how important instrumental color is to a piece of music. The importance of instrumental color is well known to exotica musicians such as Les Baxter, composers like Ravel and Rimsky-Korsakov, jazz arrangers like Quincey Jones and art rockers like Brian Wilson. They get it, but unfortunately this is a concept that is lost on a lot of jazz groups where four or five people continuously play through each tune without any regard to varying the tonal color of the ensemble. The other big plus on here is George’s gift for melody. How many fusion records have you heard where the ‘melody’ sounds like a finger exercise that is quickly discarded so they can get to the jam part. In contrast to that, Brooks composes nice melodies that border on sentimental, but are never maudlin or overbearing.

One standout cut is album opener ‘Monsoon Blues’ on which Brooks plays a fast bop melody over a hyper drumnbass-funk beat that sounds like a modern version of the JBs. This hyper Indo-drumnbass jazz style is a lot of fun, but they do not return to this style again. Much of the rest of this CD is made up of melancholy melodies treated to relaxed improvisations that sometimes get close to a Laswell style Dub effect, although never as much into the cliché druggy trip-hop sound as Laswell. Brooks music can be almost psychedelic, but it is a bright natural psychedelic sound that is based in Indian music, not the dark chemical enhanced sound associated with the rock world. Track six, ‘Sri Rollins’, breaks the reflective mood with a nod to Sonny Rollins’ calypso style and album closer ‘Casting’ seems to channel Wayne Shorter with its abstract melody and rhythms.

The future looks bright for George Brooks, I hope he continues to push himself into creating music that is devoid of clichés and full of fresh melodies and bright orchestrations.