Phil Haynes: Return to Electric

The band Return to Forever was a seminal jazz fusion group led by pianist Chick Corea. The eponymous first album, on ECM Records, was released in 1972, opening doors for scores of other like-minded ensembles. Electricity was a main aspect of the move away from acoustic jazz. The Fender Rhodes piano and plugged-in bass and guitars of fusion took hold and, to some degree, seemed to be ushering the old (acoustic) guard out the door.

But that did not happen. Things tend to be cyclical.

In fusion's early days, in the early '70s, it was tied to the avant-garde, until groove asserted, under the influence of Sly and the Family Stone and James Brown, among others. Those influences were good ones, but sometimes the groove turned into a rut, and—as with any new style of music—a staleness set in. And a good deal of the fusion of the late '70s and beyond sounded uninspired.

Drummer Phil Haynes, who lost his ties to the electric guitar when he moved from New York City to central Pennsylvania to teach, returns to this formative music of his youth with Return to Electric, with a pared down (trio) effort that has more in common with the wilder early fusion. He teams with bassist Drew Gress and guitarist Steve Salerno in this power trio outing.

The trio presents a 13-tune set that begins with "Crystal Silence," from the previously mentioned Return to Forever album, followed by guitarist John McLaughlin's (another fusion pioneer) "Spectrum" and George Russell's "Living Time." Hayes adds seven of his own compositions, and three cadenzas—one by each band member—are included, along with McLaughlin's "Lots On Irish Springs" and saxophonist Wayne Shorter's "Paraphernalia."

Sometimes the trio rips ("Spectrum"), and then Salerno slips into reveries, with Salerno sounding radioactive, in an understated way ("Crystal Silence"). Haynes shows off some John Bonham bombast behind Salerno's slicing notes on "Spell," while Hayes' "Eclipse" settles into a glowing slow burn in front of the drummer's busy backdrop.

Shorter's "Paraphernalia" closes the record, featuring Gress laying down a dry arco interlude before the band bursts into a groove. An inspired one. A Power Trio. (note the capital letters) that reins it back for an interlude of a spacey rumination before the aggressive forward momentum reasserts itself in a Return To Electric.