![\"\"](\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/haas_co_thirteen.jpg\")
I\u2019ve written before of my belief that fusion gave birth to smooth jazz. The latter being an unforgivable sin, I look askance at any new release presenting itself as fusion. But at its best, fusion can be a truly exciting musical experience, so when the signs are right, I proceed, albeit with caution.<\/p>\n
In the case of Thirteen<\/i>, (one of) the latest from The Haas Company, seeing the words \u201cfeaturing Jerry Goodman \u2013 violin\u201d on the cover gave me hope. So I dove in. What I found was an engaging mix of pieces that showcase the very best of jazz-rock fusion, with some scattered bits that veer a bit closer to prog.<\/p>\n
\u201cIncident at the Country Club\u201d is very much the former. With a character that recalls both prime Allman Brothers Band and Mahavishnu Orchestra at once, it\u2019s a thrill ride of the first order, with Goodman taking extensive leads that recall his work with John McLaughlin. Band leader and drummer Steve Haas holds the complex meter down tightly, and the other players (keyboardist Pete Drungle, bassist Kirwan Brown and guitarist Samuel H\u00e4llkvist) all do their thing with brilliance, passion and skill.<\/p>\n
\u201cFive Seven Loop\u201d has an odd meter and some appealing effects on the guitar. The latter engages in lively dialogue with Goodman\u2019s fiddle. The track builds in complexity as it develops. \u201cBack Door Party\u201d features guest bassist Sean Lennon. It\u2019s a funky number, with the core players laving down a groove upon which Drungle, H\u00e4llkvist and Goodman all apply layers of (occasionally skronky) lead lines.<\/p>\n
Thirteen<\/i>\u2019s title track opens with atmospherics, quickly giving way to the album\u2019s most aggressive track, displaying a kind of Mahavishnu-meets-King Crimson quality. The tastefully-titled \u201cThis Thing Ain\u2019t Gonna Suck Itself\u201d is not a Zappa homage; in fact it\u2019s another complex, \u201870s flavored piece with lots of soloing. If you dig electric violin sparring with wheedly-whee guitar, you\u2019ll love it. If you don\u2019t, you will long since have developed a headache by this point, and this track won\u2019t cure it. (That said, Drungle\u2019s lovely Rhodes solo might help.)<\/p>\n
The album closes with an outlier, the metallic \u201cSleepwalker.\u201d A driving guitar figure that would be more at home a Satriani<\/a> or Vai<\/a> album introduces the tune, which quickly takes flight and remains airborne for the duration. It rocks much harder than the rest of the record, and as such feels a bit out of place. But considered on its own, it\u2019s a winner. And it certainly blows the doors off any notions that \u2013 on this album, at least \u2013 The Haas Company makes smooth jazz.<\/p>\n Note: The CD features the six tracks described above. Streaming platforms serve up an extra track not reviewed here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I\u2019ve written before of my belief that fusion gave birth to smooth jazz. The latter being an unforgivable sin, I look askance at any new release presenting itself as fusion. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29965,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,40,42,49,65],"tags":[5765,5766],"class_list":["post-29964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fusion","category-instrumental","category-jazz","category-new-release","category-review","tag-haas-company","tag-jerry-goodman","cat-32-id","cat-40-id","cat-42-id","cat-49-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29964"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31794,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29964\/revisions\/31794"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}