(Fareed Haque – jazz guitar, classical guitar, Hammond B3 organ, guistar, 6- and 12-string double-neck guitar, flutes, bells, percussion, silly vocals, producer; David Hartsman – alto sax, flute; Willerm Delisfort – keyboards, piano; Alex Austin and John Paul – bass; Subrata Bhattacharya – tabla; Jim Feist – tabla, vocals; Salar Nader – naal, tabla, dholak, kanjira; Indrajit Banerjee – sitar; Ganesh Kumar – kanjira, vocals; Elihu Scott Haque – djembe, voice; Rob Clearfield – piano, harmonica, electric piano, Hammond B3 organ; Corey Healey, Jason Smart – drums; Kalyan Pathak – sticked percussion on track 2; Kala Ramnath – Hindustani violin on track 2)
Guitarist Fareed Haque is a multi-genre artist creating 21st century world music combining jam band roots, funk/soul, Indian and Pakistani music. But at its core, Haque and his large troupe, The Flat Earth Ensemble, crafts divergent jazz that cauldrons together a multitude of cultural and geographical touch points, which has the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic hallmarks of modern jazz.
Flat Planet is anything but reclining: the album is an alluring and organically arrayed project that melds hypnotic grooves, progressive fusion, soul jazz and much more. Haque kicks off the outing with the funky “Big Bhangra,” a ten-minute excursion that saunters with an insistent tabla/drums beat, Haque’s appetizing fret board maneuvers, and a Fender Rhodes solo straight out of 1972 sure to appeal to Medeski, Martin and Wood or Return to Forever fans. The tune self-confidently opens Haque’s good-times party.
Another affable groove-fest, and an example of what Haque calls Hindi boogaloo, is “The Hangar.” During the perceptively-uncomplicated song Haque’s six-string talent, which is a commingling of John Scofield’s flexible rock aggression with Grant Green’s single-note style, fuses with an up-tempo Indian rhythm bedrock highlighted by Subrata Bhattacharya’s South Asian percussion distillation. Another soulful bash that ties soul jazz influences with Punjabi grooves is “Blu Hindoo,” where David Hartsman’s flute discourses melodically with Haque’s rapid-fire guitar soloing.
One of the record’s most stormy scrimmages is “Bengali Bud,” where Faque’s fiery double-neck guitar stimulus is matched equally by the fervent and interwoven tabla of Subrata Battacharya and Indrajit Banerjee’s sitar. The East meets West romp is a full-on attack that showcases Faque’s blitzkrieg facility on electric guitar and makes one wonder what a summit between Faque and Al Di Meola would produce.
While there’s no doubting Haque’s instrumental abilities, Flat Planet is no mere chops display. Throughout the eleven tracks Haque focuses firmly on compositional value. Each arrangement is balanced by complex ethnocentric harmonics and flavorful melodies, where pre-constructed exposition provides plenty of group and individual improvisation. Haque’s songwriting vision is effectively exhibited on multi-tiered conception “The Four Corners Suite”: three parts (“North,” “South” and “West”) are included on the compact disc, while “East” can be downloaded online at most major MP3 sites. The opus has a Greg Osby-esque unpredictability. “North” is a prog/fusion feast that evokes The Mahavishnu Orchestra and some of the Tony Williams’ Lifetime late sixties material. “South” also has a heavy-rock velocity that could be rough on sensitive ears. The “Four Corners Suite” finishes with “West,” an easygoing escapade that is the album’s balmiest affair and gives the 76-minute undertaking a positively heady end.
Like “East,” bonus track “Kala’s Ragas,” in an ironic twist unique to the digital domain, is only available through Internet download websites.
On Flat Planet, Fareed Haque and the Flat Earth Ensemble furnish an exhilarating song collection of pan-ethnic elements brimming over with entwined instrumental prowess, democratic interplay, and abundantly engaging music.
TrackList:
1. Big Bhangra
2. The Chant
3. Uneven Mantra
4. Blu Hindoo
5. Bengali Bud
6. Fur Peace
7. The Hanger
8. 32 Taxis
The Four Corners Suite
9. North
10. South
11. West
— Doug Simpson
