Igor Willcox Quartet: Time Traveller

Brazilian drummer Igor Willcox is the descendant of a multi-generational family of musicians, with a conductor-arranger father and vocalist mother. With Swiss phenom Jojo Mayer as a teacher and three decades of performing under his belt, it is perhaps not surprising that Willcox's playing is superb. What astonishes on the Igor Willcox Quartet's fusion album Time Traveller is the quality of the compositions, the rapport of the musicians and the clear but muscular sound quality. Instrumental pyrotechnics abound, but always in service to Willcox's appealing compositions, whose titles—supported by the sci-fi cover art—conjure up an interstellar journey through space and time.

Willcox is certainly adept at time warps, his precise swing and groove frequently cutting across bar lines of 5 and 7 with ear-tickling accents. Saxophonist Wagner Barbosa provides the main melody lines and exciting solos, sometimes engaging in exhilarating rapid unison runs with Ricardinho Paraiso's fluid electric bass. Erik Escobar comps effectively, provides groovy vamps and solos elegantly on piano and electric piano, adding atmospherics as well to several tracks with tastefully applied synths. The album starts with a bang: "Heroes of Persistence" opens with a fiendish drum groove that drops beats and adds accents to keep the listener guessing. An Escobar piano vamp leads to his yearning solo, followed by Barbosa turning up the heat before Willcox ends the tune with a reprise of the intro material.

"The Journey" features an appealingly guitar-like bass solo by Paraíso that exemplifies the beefy but transparent tone he coaxes from his instrument. The title track fittingly moves across time signatures of 6 and 7, culminating in an impressive drum solo by the leader. "Red Planet" settles into a funky groove that recalls classic '70s fusion styles, outlined by Escobar's electric piano vamp and accented by synth blasts. "Zero Gravity" is a standout track featuring Willcox's weightless swing, Paraíso's muted, percolating bass, and Barbosa's catchy melodic interjections and deep-toned soloing. Album closer "Out of this World" really is: another fiendish drum and bass groove with memorable melodic material, delicious electric piano and synth solos, and a rousing finish. Time Traveller is aptly named. Willcox's drums effectively dance around time signatures, while his talented quartet conjures up fusion stylings of the past and merges them with sounds and techniques of today to create a very memorable release.