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
