The Drop

Album review

After spending 25 years recording solo and working as a first-call record producer, Jeff Lorber resurrected his Jeff Lorber Fusion to issue Now Is the Time in 2010. It marked the beginning of a real return to chart success for Lorber: The band issued eight more albums, and seven of them landed inside the Top Ten on both the jazz and contemporary jazz charts. The Drop is his 30th album and a strident, star-studded exercise in sophisticated, swinging, progressive jazz-funk. The JLF consists of the leader along with drummer Gary Novak and either longtime associate Jimmy Haslip (who co-produced with Lorber) or Cornelius Mims holding down the bass chair. Lorber's crew is also filled with guests including guitarists Paul Jackson, Jr. and Marc Lettieri (Snarky Puppy), and saxophonists Randal Clark and David Mann. The title-track single opens the set on a deep funk groover with syncopated groove horns courtesy of Mann and Clark, breaking snares and hi-hats, and a wonky, rumbling bassline from Mims. Lorber's acoustic and Rhodes pianos weave through the swaggering backbeat in a manner that recalls the glory days of CTI (Mann was part of the label's studio stable). "Altered State" is a midtempo, cinematic groover played by the trio with Haslip on six-string bass adding lyric components to the already pronounced melody supplied by Lorber's tasty piano vamps. "New Mexico" returns to hard-grooving urban jazz-funk. Tight piano vamps and imaginative single lines frame a finger-popping riff by the rhythm section. As the choruses emerge, they are given heft by the horns and Lettieri's lead guitar, and the tune becomes an anthem by its close. "Hang Tight" is a lithe, nocturnal, almost quiet storm instrumental for the chill-out room. It contains excellent rhythm guitar work from Lorber (who also plays keys), buoying Lettieri's slow-developing, elegant solo. The lithe, sophisticated "Liberty" has a riff constructed entirely from electronics as Lorber's Minimoog meets Rhodes and acoustic piano. He's framed by Mims' fluid bassline and Haslip (who adds another harmonic component on his six-string bass). "Keep On Moving" weds polished urban funk and Pat Metheny's sense of harmonic euphoria to a sultry, steamy, finger-popping dance groove. "Mindshare" is a showcase for Lorber's Rhodes soloing atop punchy yet elegant jazz-funk. "Reception" and "Tail Lights" address the contemporary jazz vocabulary, adding color with hip charts as well as gorgeous alternate soloing from Lettieri and Jackson. Lorber's keyboards on the former meld Minimoog, piano, and Rhodes, effortlessly stacking and juxtaposing lyric and rhythmic statements. On the latter, his acoustic solo crosses blues, hard bop, and funk in a sweeping encounter with horns, drums, and guitars. The Drop presents the Lorber group at a creative peak, reveling in funky goodness and elevated grooves in a sophisticated presentation of 21st century jazz-funk.
© Thom Jurek /TiVo