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review by Bill Binkelman Armen Chakmakian, former keyboardist in the seminal world fusion group Shadowfax, was last heard from back in 1998 with his first solo effort, Ceremonies. He has returned with a vengeance on Caravans, a globe-hopping heady blend of jazz, world beat, new age, and progressive fusion music. I have to start off by saying that Chakmakian did a great job producing this album. Considering how many musicians are featured on this recording, it sounds fantastic - every instrument is clearly realized in the mix and the sound quality is superb! If the music on an album is not equal to this standard, who cares though? Of course, with Chakmakian at the controls, that is simply not the case with this excursion. The music here is excellent, mixing fiery world fusion rhythms and ethnic percussion with the artist's passionate jazzy piano playing and elements of the other genres mentioned earlier, such as fearsomely aggressive drumming by Martin Flores (listen how the opening track, "Fire Dance" ramps up into a blistering prog rock explosion near the end, highlighted by Andy Abad's guitar work and Flores' furious drumming). This wouldn't be a Chakmakian CD without more than a hint of world music textures, which explode on the scene on the second track, "Spirits Ride," in which hand percussion combine with Chakmakian's piano to give the music a dose of Middle Eastern spice amidst the jazzier fusion elements. The keyword for most of Caravans is "powerful" as many of the tracks are real "turn up the volume" numbers, although there are exceptions, such as the relatively low key title track (which is not to say the song is mellow, but it does settle things down a bit after the first two cuts). Acoustic guitar lends a faint Mediterranean flavor to the song, as Susan Chakmakian adds some nice (multi-tracked) work on wordless vocals. "El Mirage" is another number that, while rhythmic, still keeps things a bit more subdued. Chakmakian's piano bounces around the assorted ethnic percussion creating an interesting hybrid of straight-up jazz piano with funky world beat rhythms. "Without A Word" dials up the drum kit, bass, and guitar, veering over into prog fusion territory, albeit at a slow tempo (but still with plenty of "oomph!"). "September" is a late night moody jazz number, featuring Chakmakian on percussion and piano (actually a lot of the tracks display his talent on assorted percussion instruments, something that should not be overlooked) as well as Doug Lunn on bass and Gilbert Levy on tombak. It's a pensive song and I regret it's also the shortest piece on the album (I especially like how the piano is echoed/reverbed - it gives the instrument a darker characteristic that suits the music). Caravans is one of those recordings that is for people who really love music made with "real" instruments, which is not a knock on synths. But it's easy to imagine hearing this music being played live and, in most cases, being moved to get off your butt and dance! ("Birdsong" just flat out kicks ass!) What makes the CD extra special, besides Chakmakian's attention to the technical details noted in the first paragraph above, is how much fun the musicians sound like they're having and how plugged in they are too each other. True ensemble work (which was one of the hallmark of Chakmakian's former group, Shadowfax) is a joy to hear. Another joy is genre-bending fusion which invigorates music with new life as disparate elements collide and yield an exciting alchemy of textures, tones and rhythms. This is what Caravans offers the listener and, as such, I highly recommend it to world fusion and jazz fans alike. |
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