Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Tohpati Bertiga: Faces

17

Tohpati Bertiga: Faces

By

View read count
Tohpati Bertiga: Faces
Indonesian guitar virtuoso Tohpati (SimakDialog) and his fellow countrymen blaze a jazz rock power trio path of wonderment, following up the band's previous release, Riot (Moonjune, 2013) and the guitarist's studio date with American jazz fusion superstars, bassist Jimmy Haslip and drummer Chad Wackerman on Tribal Dance (Moonjune, 2014).

The program is jam-packed with scathing licks, super-tight grooves and memorably melodic primary themes amid a host of split-second detours and precision-oriented unison runs. The trio gels to a punchy jazz rock and funk motif on the vivacious "Bright Side," where Tohpati wreaks a bit of fun-loving havoc via his twisting lines as he bends notes into submission while spiraling into the heavens. However. "Bluesphoria" is a Canned Heat style boogie blues, spiced with classic rock overtones and finger-snapping riffs. They also blend prog rock nuances into the mix, amped by the leader's blistering solos and off-centered time changes that elevate the piece into more than just a boilerplate blues vamp.

Shifting paradigms are in abundance throughout. For example, "Sweet Talk" is flavored with the guitarist's chunka-chunka chord voicings and jazzy licks, counterbalanced by drummer, Bowi's indigenous percussion foray and the group's odd-metered unison choruses and sweltering impetus. Tohpati's fluent lines are energized with howling accents during other works that are designed with driving beats and changeable patterns. Essentially, the musicians get their point across rather concisely, seemingly fueled by a V-8 engine with the mobility of a tiger briskly stalking its prey.

Track Listing

Conviction; Faces; Extraordinary; Bright Side; Absolute; Bluesphoria; Sweet Talk; Intense.

Personnel

Tohpati: guitars; Indro Hardjodikoro: bass; Bowi (Aditiyo Wibowo).

Album information

Title: Faces | Year Released: 2017 | Record Label: Moonjune Records

Tags

Comments


PREVIOUS / NEXT




Support All About Jazz

Get the Jazz Near You newsletter All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.

More

Tramonto
John Taylor
Ki
Natsuki Tamura / Satoko Fujii
Duality Pt: 02
Dom Franks' Strayhorn
The Sound of Raspberry
Tatsuya Yoshida / Martín Escalante

Popular

Old Home/New Home
The Brian Martin Big Band
My Ideal
Sam Dillon
Ecliptic
Shifa شفاء - Rachel Musson, Pat Thomas, Mark Sanders
Lado B Brazilian Project 2
Catina DeLuna & Otmaro Ruíz

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.

Install All About Jazz

iOS Instructions:

To install this app, follow these steps:

All About Jazz would like to send you notifications

Notifications include timely alerts to content of interest, such as articles, reviews, new features, and more. These can be configured in Settings.