Steve Khan
Casa Loco

"A musician who made his mark", that's how I've ranked him in my personal list of the greatest Jazz-Fusion soloists of all time. And in that same list, as you will notice, there aren't many guitarists I consider superior to the present Steve Khan, for a reason that goes beyond the purely technical value of his music, on which there's no need to spend further words. Because the man behind "Arrows," "Crossings," and other remarkable productions (apart from being a successful session man) is one of those who contributed to the renewal of Fusion between the '70s and '80s, one of the first to give his music a modern "sheen," to experiment with electronics with a genuinely pioneering attitude, to set the standards for contemporary "Instrumental" music. Yet, his is a classical, rigorous education, not coldly "academic" but nonetheless filtered through a methodical study of the evolution of the guitar in Jazz; this is evidenced by his publications (yes, because Steve is a musician who talks and writes about music), particularly his studies on Wes Montgomery and Jazz harmony, which have been on the market for several years but remain decidedly current.

To recap the entire extent of his collaborations would be as crazy as it is pointless; what I care about is getting you to rediscover the significance of a crucial work of Khan from the '80s, a work that falls under the "Eyewitness" project undertaken in 1981 and which contains many of the distinctive features of this "turn" I was talking about; the cast involved (the same as "Eyewitness" and "Modern Times," a rare yet excellent Japanese live) includes Anthony Jackson, Steve Jordan, and former Weather Report member Manolo Badrena. In "Casa Loco" (the year is 1983), the peaks of the decade's Fusion are reached, you listen to (along with the host) three true phenomena of the instrument, and you get to fully enjoy the intriguing and "exotic" formula of the new Khan, more distant than ever here from the linear rationality of a work of pure routine. The leader's Gibson is, naturally, the undisputed protagonist of this original formula, but the contribution of the other three is fundamental, I would say indispensable, to the success of the album; Jackson crafts continuous bass lines that surprise with their freedom and creativity, Jordan backs him by inventively complicated and improbable drumming "drives," Badrena is the "extra man" providing the irreplaceable percussive support for Steve's explicitly "Caribbean" Fusion. Upon the album's release, several critics ventured to find even echoes of the Police within its grooves, recognizing Andy Summers as the main influencer - if there was one - of the "new style" Khan; I partly endorse this interesting reading, as long as we don't exaggerate in some comparisons, and perhaps we derive yet another confirmation of how Rock is a reality that jazz musicians have always looked at. I would also add that, in a track like "Penetration", Steve openly recalls the Surf of the '50s, its spontaneity, and its typical minor keys, offering glimpses of wild guitar power that you would never expect to find in such a record.

A record that speaks the language of distant islands and unknown atolls, that has the charm of isolated lights on a beach at night, intense and engaging for its entire duration: it starts with the radical electronics of "The Breakaway", drum machine and percussion supporting guitar fragments and aseptic, spectral, geometric reverberations. A classic punch in the stomach for the purists (consider that it was '83, and in that same year, Miles was cautiously starting to introduce "synthetic" refinements in an album like "Decoy"); an appetizer of three minutes, which is little compared to what was yet to come. Because with almost thirteen minutes of the title track, the tone decisively rises, and "dark" and mysterious atmospheres take over; indescribable are the progressions of Steve Jordan in the second part while guitar and bass whisper in dialogue in the background (ah, the tribal screams heard from time to time, here as in other tracks, are by Badrena - just to make the whole even more unsettling). "Some Sharks" and "Uncle Roy" are, each in its own way, showcases for Khan's speed and performance skill, remarkable in maintaining an "educated," coherent, and clean phrasing in such a "progressive" sound quality context; but the pinnacle of experimentation is perhaps in the concluding "The Suitcase", one of the guitarist's most renowned compositions, both for the high-level work of Jackson (as a bassist, I assure you that playing certain scales on the high notes - where the frets are narrower - is uniquely challenging), and for the variety of registers Steve manages to explore in just five minutes: a piece of admirable synthesis, thus, capable of summarizing a bit all facets of Khan as a musician.

Surely you won't find yourself bored, in short...

Enjoy listening.