Alphonse Mouzon
Mind Transplant

It remains in history who dares first. And indeed Billy Cobham's name is well etched in the pantheon of fusion greats. With his “Spectrum,” he wrote one of the universally recognized masterpieces of the genre. That was an avant-garde record, the natural evolution of a process initiated with Miles Davis. A record that placed percussion at the center of a project that mixed the harmonic progressions of jazz with the power and groove of rock, and that paved the way for various other experiments and cross-overs between musical genres.

However, sometimes even those who ride the wave deserve a bit more attention. Alphonse Mouzon, for example. Many of you have probably already had the chance to appreciate him for his membership in fundamental groups like Weather Report or Larry Coryell's Eleventh House. Few, however, are aware of his quite respectable solo career.

It was in 1975 that he accepted Cobham's challenge and released his masterpiece and perfect counterpart to Spectrum: "Mind Transplant". A duel to the last drumstick. At least that's how I imagine it. The best things are often born from such dichotomies.

Mouzon decided to play on equal terms and enlisted that slender and pyrotechnic guitar wizard who had exalted the muscular fury of his rival: Tommy Bolin. The substantial difference is that here the guitarist is at the center of the project and not just a sidekick. There's no Jan Hammer to chase after. The guitar is even freer to unleash its riffs and sleights of hand. Not that I wish to overlook the excellent contrapuntal work of the other musicians (Lee Ritenour, Jerry Peters, and Henry Davis), but it's evident that the record has two undisputed protagonists. And the inclinations of the two musicians lead to a register that particularly nods to funk, a territory where both seem to give their best, managing to offer an additional touch of modernity compared to the benchmark.

Alphonse leads his crew towards electric horizons, putting all his fire and boldness on the table. His approach is powerful yet elaborate, a style explicitly taken as an example by contemporaneous phenomena like “Bonzo” John Bonham, and has come to influence many contemporary musicians, including Will Calhoun of Living Colour.

The music erupts with vigor right from the title track that opens the record, where Mouzon immediately showcases his astonishing technique while the group hones the palpable synergy that takes over the recordings. The temperature rises in tracks like "Carbon Dioxide" or the explosive “Nitroglycerin”, but it's all balanced by more ethereal themes like the beautiful “Golden Rainbows”, where Bolin, true to his habit, enjoys the use of the echoplex. But as mentioned, this is a work strongly oriented to funk, and clarifying that are the ankle bites of “Snow Bound” or the danceable “Happiness is Loving You”, the latter representing one of the two tracks that most resemble a song form.

Ultimately, we are faced with a well-balanced record, with a rather high level of compositions that always engage. If we must find a flaw, it would be in some repetitive passages here and there. But in the end, you realize that in these cases, everything is necessary. Every minor detail. You can't do without anything. Because this is music to be cherished. Music for the mind and the heart.