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The Energized Progressive Jazz of Ligro

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LIGRO: Dictionary 3 (CD on Moonjune Records)

This 2015 release features 64 minutes of energized progressive jazz music.

Ligro is: Agam Hamzah (on guitar), Adi Darmawan (on bass), and Gusti Hendy (on drums and percussion), with Ade Irawan (on piano and keyboards) on one track.

Primo power trio tuneage, progressive jazz with a tendency to accentuate intensity.

The guitar is nimble and aggressive, belting out riffs that glisten with molten fervor. Each note displays a tasty growl, blending chords to searing riffs. In some instances, the guitar delivers energized pickings tempered with controlled feedback.

The drums are equally spry. Rhythms are conjured with deft skill. Beats roll out with determination, agile and emphatic.

The bass rumbles like a geological event, transmitted tremors through the listener's gut. A sinuous foundation is established, and sometimes the bass sullies forth to flourish in the spotlight with fluidly ponderous thumps tinged with maximum vibration.

There are keyboards in the opening track, delineating a sultry thread like a golden stream winding through the hot mix.

The true beauty here is how these instruments blend together to form a silken nucleus. Their cohesion results in a dazzling dose of strong tuneage, tight, shiny and enthusiastic.

Most of these compositions pursue a feverish intensity that can be delightfully exhausting. (Okay, there are sedate passages, wherein the band indulges in a little abstract meandering. But these occasions invariably lead to incredibly complex outbursts of vitality and passion.) Meanwhile...those galvanized tunes are a wonder to behold.

Those who enjoy it when King Crimson let loose will be thoroughly entranced by this album.

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