Pablo Embon is a one-man jazz fusion band. Recording for over forty years and boasting a serious discography (24 albums since 2004!), Pablo, an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, writes, performs, records, mixes, and produces every single track from said voluminous catalog. And his latest offering, Where We Came From, is yet another instrumental masterwork – a continuation of his focus on symphonic jazz fusion that began with previous album, The Symphonic Jazz Fusion Collection (which, by the way, included the Film Scoring Academy of Europe, and the European Recording Orchestra in the academy recording studios in Sofia, Bulgaria). Ready for your orchestral jazz fusion master class? Let’s hit the highlights from Pablo Embon’s latest multi-discipline excursion.
Wait. What’s it about?
Per Pablo, Where We Came From “is a compilation of more jazz style orchestral arrangements and includes World music, [and] film music with some of them interpreted on regional ethnic instruments.” And, “The album also features choral compositions with instrumental vocal piece performances.”
What we’re digging (i.e., the highlights).
The album begins with “Here, There and Everywhere.” We hear softly lashing steel brushes and chiming, timidly exploring piano. And after commanding, percussive hits, more instrumentation arrives: the bending jazz bass, some nearly contrapuntal acoustic guitar, and then, the remaining playful layers. At about 2:08, gorgeous strings arrive, and an acoustic guitar plucks melodies over these swelling, melodic waterways. Trumpets have their moment in perhaps a final act of punctuation before the song hastily breaks and ends. Wow, what an opener.
Title track “Where We Came From” begins with layered acoustic guitars (I’m guessing a 12-string, and perhaps another 6-string to produce volume). Over top, a soloing acoustic guitar shares its lament before cloud-spilling strings fill every aural crack and crevice. With an electric guitar passage and respites painted with soft piano and horns, the title track is another stunner.
“Take Me to the Top” is a little darker, tonally speaking. With an acoustic guitar keystone, staccato and extended strings, a human choral ensemble, and moments that touch upon triumph and dismay, “Take Me to the Top” is a glorious, feeling-filled work.
“Scattered Screams” begins with spacey whooshing, starry chimes, and not quite mechanical but nearly industrial percussion. A female vocalist enters, briefly, to further punctuate the middle-eastern dismay grafted to this cosmic-leaning piece. With strong and conflicted string passages, jazzy piano rests, and more occurrences of our grieving vocalist, “Scattered Screams” in an interesting aural blend.
“The Next Time You Look” begins with an immediately mournful piano and flute. And then, layers of bright but bemoaning strings elevate the sadness; they take it from simple and conceptual to grandiose and romantic. The feeling is BIG here, and although we hear slivers of triumph, “The Next Time You Look” is a movie’s final wretched scene – a realization that our hero failed, the love interest perished, or the world remained remorseless and unaffected, regardless of our hero’s one-hour-and-thirty-five-minute struggle (not counting trailers).
“Mountains I’ve Crossed” begins with some jazz-leaning piano. And shifting cleverly between moods and textures, we meet the occasional swelling strings and solemn horn. It leans into sadness, but in the end, we’re given chords, and higher flickering notes, of hope. Of satisfaction.
The album closes with “As We Dare to Dream.” A vocalist arrives, her voice lilting in almost artificial ways, joined by a room-filling chorus. She sings not in arcs, but in hard turns, perhaps jolted by intrusive memory. And a chorus matching her eccentric singing accompanies her ricochetting descent.
But is it good??
Folks, this is SUPERB. Seriously. The compositions are clever, astounding, and granted sonic birth for classical string blasts and mountain-echoing choruses. The playing is supremely precise, and equally felt – because the feelings conveyed here are simply too big for a single human heart. If you’re looking for high-level playing, played with feeling, and touching the stratosphere with an orchestral and choral ascendence?? Then, like me, you will absolutely love Pablo Embon’s Where We Came From. HIGHLY recommended.
BELOW: Listen to Pablo Embon and check him out on YouTube, Soundcloud, ReverbNation, Bandcamp, and Facebook. Please support Pablo Embon by visiting his website and playing, downloading, and/or purchasing his music. And, as always, thank you for supporting real music.
(Want to have your music reviewed on The Ark of Music? Click HERE.)
Follow, stream, download & connect with PABLO EMBON online:
