Rexorcist I don't hear a lot of jazz albums that I legitimately don't like. I mean, it's absolutely rate. But if you're to better yourself as a reviewer, don't be afraid of low quality. Tarantino himself admitted that watching bad movies taught him what not to do when making good ones. So with the first three Albare albums I hear, Acid Love, What Goes Around and Midnight Blues all being disappointing, if I can get my ears on an Albare album no matter how rare it is, I'll be up on it. The fourth of these is Long Way.

Long Way sees Albare do something he had never done before: focus on the music rather than dork around. With so many unfocused compositions defining his early career, this is a massive step forward. The title track and Eagle's Way in particular are surprisingly consistent, and feature some REAL jazz among the smoothness of this newfound genre he's chosen. I actually kind of enjoyed the first half. Of course, as soon as side B starts, I got really bored. it feels like it's trying to be an avant-garde piece that fits comfortably with the fusion of the entire first half, but ultimately fails. It's far too random and dull, like the entirety of Albare's album Midnight Blues. Thankfully, this issue seems to be fixed as soon as You Make Me Smile comes on, and we go back to that soft blend of smooth, fusion and cool jazz, and with the occasional if not faint Latin touch.

Albare finally grew up. This album would show a lot of promise for the future, assuming he actually did improve again after this. Albare, probably the worst jazz musician I've been exposed to thus far, finally did something likable. It;s kinda cool, nice and soft and doesn't flaunt anything while not being underwhelming or lacking in any form of rhythm.

Rexorcist I'm actually glad that I discovered Albare. A part of my studies in the world of music is to find albums people hate in order to compare them to the ones they love and see if I agree. Now I don't always agree with them, as I admit to thinking Kenny G is nowhere near as bad as the jazz community states. He's an adult contemporary artist, and I think the standards of that genre should be taken into account. Besides, if you compare him to Albare, you may see Kenny G in the same light I saw Lady Gaga after comparing her to Corey Feldman.

Albare's debut is an acid fusion album where the hip hop and funk influences sometimes feel too strong or too forces. While the album has a fair amount of variety to it, every single melody feels half-assed or incomplete, like Albare decided that jazz was all about playing random notes in inappropriate places and calling it cool. While it's not the worst jazz album I've heard, that's the same mentality that made Manos such a bad movie. No joke. Albare obviously just wanted to be cool with this album. I barely felt any real groove coming from any one of his songs. Sure, the acid fusion genre combination was pretty cool, but that's literally the only compliment I have for this album. If I had anything else that wasn't "negative" to say, I'd say the production didn't fail.

kev rowland Albert Dadon was born in Morocco and grew up in Israel and France before moving to Melbourne, Australia in 1983 at the age of 27. As well as performing as Albare, he founded the Australian Jazz Awards in 2003, and five years later received the Order of Australia for services to the arts. This 2013 album found Albare providing guitar and synth guitar, and he was joined by Phil Turcio (piano), Yunior Terry (bass) and Pablo Bencid (drums). Allan Harris guests on vocals on one number, “Overjoyed”, but the rest is instrumental, and Albare’s synth guitar sometimes provides the sound of a wailing trombone that is so in keeping with the rest of the jazz that is on show.

His own sound is that of a laid-back Carlos Santana, but here grooving very much in a jazz vein, bringing in hints of blues and his own Morroccan roots while also encompassing other forms and making it all very complete and polished indeed. According to Albare himself, “ “The Road Ahead” is a prayer for what lies ahead of us.. the scales used are borrowed from the Jewish Sephardic Moroccan tradition, and we also borrow from the blues tradition, so this makes an interesting fusion and hopefully it translates into an equally interesting linstening”. That is something of an understatement.

These guys have the understanding of each other that only comes with long hours spent on the road. There is a period during “The Gift” where Pablo is going absolutely mad on the kit, and the others just play the odd notes or chords here and there, and it comes together in a completeness and understanding that few artists ever achieve. This is a mature work that oozes class, by musicians who understand that note density is never the answer, and that fluidity and understanding of the musical journet is what really matters. This is a wonderful album, highly recommended, www.albaremusic.com