When the term jazz fusion is mentioned, a lot of those who closely follow music will first think of the ’70s version of the term, when it referred to the likes of Mahavishnu Orchestra, Billy Cobham, Stanley Clarke or the veterans like Chick Correa and Herbie Hancock, who have passed through as many jazz styles as there probably are.
It meant incredible technique and very often incredible speed, but at the same time, very often, the substance of music was lost somewhere in there.
That is why some dread the term fusion these days, although things seem to have shifted there, and moved more into combining musical styles without losing the substance and initial musical idea.
This is exactly where Japanese trumpet player Takuya Kuroda, now a resident of New York City comes in. His previous album from 2020, Fly Moon Die Soon, already showed what new jazz fusion trends should sound like, and his latest, Midnight Crisp shows deep dives in this new direction, something also exhibited by a number of newer artists like Chicago trumpeter Theo Croker.
Like Croker, Kuroda doesn’t shy away from combining jazz and hip-hop in all its forms and guises, taking a road of jazz experimentation similar to that of another Japanese jazz sensation Soil & Pimp Sessions.
The playing of Kuroda and his collaborators is surely impeccable, but the technique (and, at times, speed) has a definite purpose and is suited to the musical ideas here, and not vice versa.
The result is some excellent, and utterly listenable modern jazz, whatever other tag you want to add to it.
