Tohpati — Tribal Dance (May 20, 2014) MASTER CLASS ALBUM/NOMINATED for TA 15 | Tais Awards (Czech, Slovakia & Overseas) Music

Tohpati

Tribal Dance (May 20, 2014)

Tohpati — Tribal Dance (May 20, 2014)

Tohpati — Tribal Dance

♠ Tohpati Ario Hutomo (born 25 July 1971 in Jakarta, Indonesia) is an Indonesian jazz guitarist and songwriter. He is known as one of the most famous jazz guitarists in Indonesia. He has collaborated with many Indonesian musicians such as Glenn Fredly, Indro, Arie Ayunir and Shakila. Many of his work has traditional culture elements as he always try to combine both modern and traditional Indonesian music on his albums. The influence came from many different international jazz guitarists, but the most significant influence came from Pat Metheny.

Location: Jakarta, Indonesia ~ Los Angeles, CA

Album release: May 20, 2014

Record Label: MoonJune Records (MJR 064)

Duration: 42:52

Tracks:

1. Rahwana 7:47

2. Spirit Of Java 5:21

3. Tribal Dance 7:00

4. Red Mask 5:12

5. Savana 1:56

6. Run 4:26

7. Supernatural 6:41

8. Midnight Rain 4:29

Personnel:

♠ Tohpati: guitar

♠ Jimmy Haslip: bass guitar

♠ Chad Wackerman: drums

Notable instruments:

♠ Fender Stratocaster

♠ Sadowsky

♠ Takamine

Description:

♠♠ With Tohpati's 3rd release (2nd as a trio) on MoonJune, recorded in Los Angeles in September 2013, we see the Beckian progressive metal riffing of 2012's Tohpati Bertiga Riot supplanted by a pairing of compositional dexterity along with the unique guitar voice that is the essence of Tohpati, one of Indonesia's most famous guitar players. Though there is no shortage of acrobatic axe-wielding on Tribal Dance, Tohpati's democratic interplay with the formidable world class rhythm section of Jimmy Haslip and Chad Wackerman is the real star here - creating a powerful synergy that gives voice to the whole of the music over its parts and delivering a richly rewarding listening experience. Power chords, distorted spare note leads, chugging rhythmic grooves and nuanced jazz phrasings are all summoned up by Tohpati, as he locks in with Haslip's dub master bass lines and the rubber-limbed kit work of Wackerman, creating tracks of infectious syncopation and of sufficient complexity to warrant a player recount. Aside from a few ambient vocal samples, Tribal Dance is an instrumental album, though many of Tohpati's melodic guitar lead lines feel 'sung' in both song context and in the expressive way in which they are played. This diversity of guitar voicings and textures, along with the enthusiasm and chemistry between the players, will keep this disc in heavy rotation. Fans of Jeff Beck, Wayne Krantz, Allan Holdsworth, Scott Henderson, Oz Noy, and, of course, the Indonesian guitar icon Dewa Budjana will surely want to pick this up.

Equipments:

♠♠ Tohpati mainly uses his Fender Stratocaster for recording and live performances. However, he has changed the pickups of the guitar, which are Seymour Duncan and DiMarzio X2N. Other guitars that he uses are Sadowsky and Takamine. The guitars are connected to Rocktron effects then to a Mesa Boogie amplifier.

REVIEW

by Stanton Zeff — July 25, 2014

Introduction

♠♠ Award-winning Indonesian guitarist Tohpati Ario Humoto is joined by former Yellowjackets bass player Jimmy Haslip and former Frank Zappa drummer Chad Wackerman on this hard-driving jazz-fusion release. Tohpati's considerable guitar “chops” can be traced to his early childhood classical guitar training. While this CD features strong ensemble performances throughout, there's no doubt that Tohpati is in control of the musical direction. He wrote and produced everything on this CD, playing a mixture of (mostly) electric and acoustic guitar.

Audio Quality

♠♠ While Tohpati writes some screaming sixteenth note passages, his solos can be very melodic. You'll also find lots of odd-meter time signatures juxtaposed with hard-driving 4/4 rock grooves. My favorite cuts are Run and the title track Tribal Dance. There's also a great bass solo on Run. Whatever guitar synth/sample Tohpati uses at the beginning of Savana is a very interesting, because there are no other musical instrument credits beyond the trio. Free-form drum solos are rare these days, and track Supernatural slides in and out of one nicely. The track also features a few mind-bending time changes. The only tracks I don't really like are Spirit of Java and Midnight Rain, but I have to admit the latter has a nice, haunting melody.

Summary

♠♠ With a total run-time under 45 minutes, my only real complaint is that there isn't ENOUGH music on this CD! While Tohpati does have some earlier solo recordings, he can be found more recently playing with Indonesian super-group simakDialog. Tribal Dance is a good ride for any guitar-centric jazz-fusion lover.

Scorecard

Audio Quality: 4/5

Features (liner notes): 5/5

Overall: 4/5

Reference Equipment

♠♠ Yamaha DSP-A1 Natural Sound A/V Amplifier (Stereo Mode)

♠♠ Pioneer Elite CLD-99 Reference LD Player

♠♠ Polk Monitor 10B Speakers (x2)

Fortaken: http://www.audioholics.com/

Discography:

simakDialog (sD):

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