Mendoza Hoff Revels

Should more discs like Echolocation be available they might almost give Jazz-Rock fusion a good name. That’s because the electric guitar-focused genre mostly degenerated into flashy clichés within a few months of its early 1970s introduction. Luckily since then a new generation of players can meld Rock’s rhythmic function with Jazz’s spontaneity. Help in avoiding fusion clichés also comes from the guests who join the Mendoza Hoff Revels. Dedicated improvisers, drummer Ches Smith usually plays with the likes of Tim Berne, while tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis leads his own groups .Meanwhile electric bassist Devin Hoff has worked with everyone from Nels Cline to Yoko Ono; while guitarist Ava Mendoza has her own take on improv and partnered with diverse figures like William Parker and Bill Orcutt. Tellingly as well, it appears that the half of the album’s tracks which the guitarist composed, have a firmer grasp on fusion expansion than Hoff’s matched set of tunes.

Take Mendoza’s composed consecutive title track and “Interwhining”. “Echolocation” is foreshortened and atmospheric built on fragmented guitar vamps often in dual counterpoint with alternating reed honks and screams. As the theme ascends shaking guitar riffs are equally torqued alongside saxophone timbral elaboration as the electric bass strings clank and drums bums and clunk. In contrast “Interwhining” is light-hearted and bouncy, with string cascades bushing up against reed spetrofluctuation and trills until the designated head finally reappears following sly finger style variations from Mendoza.

While Hoff’s lines are more likely to lean towards Metal than moderation, connections among electric bass runs, saxophone tongue slides, drum ruffs and shaking guitar vamps usually supersede abject heaviness. Plus Hard Rock sameness is frequently punctured by jam-band-like improvisations, adding inventive discord to expected riff evolution. “Ten Forward”, his composition that ends the disc, also suggests an extension of fusion basics. Beginning with Hawaiian-like bass string vibrations, the expositions blends into curlicue reed spurts, guitar twangs and drum patterns to create a rippling narrative that straddles a downwards moving discourse juddering with unexpected inserts.

Despite the improvisational dexterity expressed here it isn’t likely that many more players besides these will find unique way to resuscitate the fusion formula.

–Ken Waxman

Track Listing: 1.  Dyscalculia 2.  Echolocation 3.  Interwhining 4 . Babel-17 5.  New Ghosts 6.  Diablada 7.  The Stumble 8. Ten Forward

Personnel: James Brandon Lewis (tenor saxophone); Ava Mendoza (guitar); Devin Hoff (electric bass) and Ches Smith (drums)