ZAO

1. "Merci Jacky" (7:20) opens with a Smooth Jazz-like feeling before Jaco Pastorius-like bass joins the percussion and steady one-chord electric piano motif. Key change at 0:50 continues the one-chord foundation approach while Gérard Prévost and Michel Séguin continue to impress (especially the former). 2:00 the reins are handed over to "Faton" for a solo that could come from lighter J-R Fusion players like Donald Fagen, Michael Omartian, or Greg Phillinganese. chord progression sequence in the fourth minute leads into a much more developed motif (though it feels the same because the drum and percussion lines are much unchanged) but trombone and saxophone now join in while the keyboard/synth and bass lines are now more sophisticated, melodic, and, frankly, interesting. Fuzz synth mirrors bass play for a score of seconds before circus-like sounds and chord progression take us into the dismantling finish. Nice, fun and light. Good opener. (13.25/15)

2. "Typhareth (Beauté)" (12:44) I love the presence, prominence of trombone coming from unconventional trombonist Hamid Belhocine. The flanged bass (with its great solo in the eleventh minute) is cool, too--especially due to the loving support that Faton's hypnotic keyboards play below him. This is a very easy-going, gentle and melodic tune which lulls the mind into perhaps failing to notice all of the lovely subtleties going on in the soil and underbrush. Truly a lovely song. (23.75/25)

3. "Troupeau De Bisons Sous Un Crane" (3:32) Hand claps and congas! A light, fun, and upbeat tune that seems to reflect a carefree, fearless Cajun-like attitude. Nice! A little Weather Report feel to this--and so nice to hear a lower- register saxophone for a change! (8.875/10)

4. "Binah / Comprehension Feminine" (5:04) dreamy ethereal combination of piano, flute, and EBERHARD WEBER-like flanged electric bass start this one out as cymbals and metal percussives add to the effect while flutes, percussives, change, trombone enters. At 3:00 there feels like a shift in temperament: as if the sun has come out and there's a reassurance that everything will be okay. But then it goes back to the more dreamy, less settling motif for the final minute. Nice! Interesting! Creative. (8.875/10)

5. "Les Temps Changent" (8:44) keyboard, congas, and café chatter open this for about 30 seconds before bass, drums and horn section enter to move the song forward--but slowly, with lots of stutter steps and shifting, twisting dance moves--before finally letting Faton lead us into the pedestrian lanes of the cobblestone shopping area of la vieille ville. As we walk the troupe gets more stylish, more swaggy and cocky with its self-assured, attention-getting footwork and audaciousness. I love it: These were the Seventies! This is a perfect representation of the Black-positive attitudes that styles, clothing, and music were expressing at the time--and François Debricon's expressive tenor saxophone solo in the seventh minute is the perfect cherry on top! This is followed by an ensemble finale which feels as if it were choreographed by Mandy Moore for a street scene in La La Land. (18/20)

Total Time: 37:24

Like reviewer/friend John Davies, I find much more hiding in this music than what might appear at first listen: besides eminently-impressive musicianship from all involved, there are plenty of compositional and improvisational intricacies that might be masked by the easy-on-the-ears melodic sensibilities that François offers the listener.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of Third-moving-into-Fourth Wave Jazz-Rock Fusion. Very engaging and upbeat while being deceptively intricate and sophisticated.

The band released its debut on Richard Pinha's startup Disjuncta label in 1973 and delivered a mix of Magma influenced zeuhl with a lighter breezier blend of jazz fusion more like The Weather Report. The band followed with its second album OSIRIS which surprisingly sold well but ended up out of print soon enough due to the Disjuncta label quickly going out of business. Between the debut release "Z=7L" and OSIRIS, there was a substantial lineup change, a trait that would dominate the band's existence throughout the 1970s. At this stage vocalist Mauricia Platon left the band and was not replaced by another vocalist but rather the vocal duties were picked up by Seffer and bassist Joel "DUD" Dugrenot.

While the rest of the band remained stable the addition of two extra percussionists added a bit more variation in the drumming department. Despite the changes, the second album sort of continues where the debut left off with a lighter delivery of jazz fusion mixed with occasional zeuhl elements most notably in the bass grooves, percussive hypnotism and occasional vocals reminiscing the days of Magma's earliest albums however the band was far from as adventurous or outrageous as the first two Magma albums and rather played it safe with an easier listening watered down version often sounding more like some of Soft Machines post "Third" releases rather than anything out of the zeuhl playbook.

While the bubbling bass thumping maintains a zeuhl flavor to the mix, the incessant saxophone solos and busy tribal drumming take this into a world of its own making which unfortunately doesn't come off nearly as original as what Magma was cranking out at the same time or even what the band presented on its debut album. With five tracks that feature two lengthy eight minute plus extravaganzas, the emphasis is on jazz improvisations rather than the hypnotic zeuhl effect that features vocal workouts and repetitive variations. The album comes off as a bit uneven because it can't decide if it wants to retain its zeuhl inspired origins or completely abandon them altogether for a dip into the English Canterbury Scene.

ZAO was never known as one of the exciting bands to fall off the Magma tree and although i found the debut had an interesting charm in how it was the first band to reinvent the world of zeuhl into something that would catch on with other acts to follow, this second offering that was the first to slowly shed the zeuhl influences and steer the band into a completely zeuhl-free form of jazz fusion just isn't as interesting and in many ways sounds rather generic when compared to other similar fusion bands that were around at the same time. A nice pleasant listening experience for sure but in the end not something that beckons return visits and considering it still features just enough zeuhl characteristics to squeak into that category, sounds a bit disappointing if you're expecting a greater emphasis on those attributes.

Nearly two decades on, their sound hasn't changed much other than being a little cleaner which you'd expect of production quality in the 90s vs the 70s, although the influence of Zeuhl has reduced somewhat and it is closer to 'standard' jazz rock than previous Zao albums. The heavy bassline is still a continuous feature though alongside some 'darker' passages.

Elioth begins with a quite beautiful Jazz intro, while Thebes is notable for the interplay between saxophone and violin. Baityare is quite heavy on violin and doesn't have much Zeuhl influence at all, but Cobra is a little more early-Magma- esque. Yzzo is a faster paced rack, bringing out the best of Truong's drumming and the bass work, probably the best track on the album. Sable continues the fast pace, but at this point you start to notice the pattern of each track: building a melody, then everyone having a solo passage, then on to the next track - doesn't mean they're bad songs, just that you can almost sense what's coming before it happens. The album does end though with the calm (just Seffer & Cahen duetting) piece, Des fleurs pour Nefertiti, which is slow and melodic and in stark contrast for most of the album before it.

On balance, I've given every Zao album of the 70s three stars, and I'm doing exactly the same here.

It feels a little bit "safe" and so probably doesn't either wow or offend fans of Zeuhl and/or Jazz. But the highlight is definitely the opener 'Merci Jacky'. The 12 minute title track is slow and atmospheric and to be honest I found it a bit boring. They probably knew some people would think that as Troupeau De Bisons Sous Un Crane is a short happy clappy bit of classic funky jazz music. Binah is back to more atmospheric, a nice track but little more than that, and Les Temps Changent is a synth heavy lounge track.

It was encouraging after the first track, then I got a bit bored and it never quite picked up again. A shame for a group that to me delivered a few great tracks but surrounded by filler.

The opener Natura is my favourite Zao track - tightly constructed jazz rock with dark undertones and a slight nod to Zeuhl, great interplay between Seffer and Lockwood. That interplay increases tenfold on the next track Tserouf, which is at a faster pace, starting with a funk theme but breaking into quick and tight jazz improvisation.

F.F.F. is a drum-free break, sounding a little extra-terrestrial to begin with thanks to Cahen's dark piano chords, added to by violin. A really nice change of pace after the previous two tracks but we then return to the tight jazz fusion theme, but definitely without getting 'samey'; Kabal including some good synth work backed up by the usual sax & violin.

Sadie is a looser, slower track built to showcase the saxophone - potentially a sign of Seffer's desire to go solo.

Free Folk opens up with a strange choir chorus that's almost Zeuhl but not quite. Its a fairly relaxed track for the first half before a gradual pick up of pace almost to chaotic levels with heavy bass and drumming before returning to the choral vocals. Lockwood's violin half way through is excellent, and this is also the first time we really hear the tight drumming of Truong who has been surprisingly 'background noise' up to this point.

Just squeezes into 4 stars for me - one of a few Zao albums where I'd listen repeatedly all the way through, but marks off for not showcasing Truong's drumming better, and sometimes the jarring saxophone gets a bit much

Joyl - a jazz groove, very good but not Zeuhl Yen-lang - Atmospheric, has a minimalist Zeuhl feel to start before a pulsating but slow second half driven by the bass and string quartet Zohar - Sudden change of gear with everyone at full tilt. Truong's brilliant drumming is at the fore. The string quartet then take over on their own for a dramatic tension builder. Then its the turn of the percussion and keys, with Truong back jamming away. Metatron - Again really impressive from Truong, some Zeuhl-ish vocals thrown in, and a great fast paced track Zita - Suddenly calm and peaceful again. A soprano voice, strings and keys. Bakus - Quite an avant-jazz track, but more brilliance from Truong.

The drumming is 4 stars, as a Zeuhl album its 3, as a Zeuhl-related Jazz Fusion... 3.5.

Like the debut album, Osiris is linked to the early jazzy Zeuhl style of Kobaia/1000 Centigrades rather than the later 'dark' Zeuhl of MDK which followed Seffer/Cahen's departure.

The opening track Shardaz is perhaps the most Zeuhl, scatty wordless vocals over a repetitive rhythm, but is also possibly the weakest. The group is at its best playing more 'developed' jazz arrangements such as Isis which builds slowly from a bass riff into a rolling jazz number, but without too much to recognise it as Zeuhl. Reinna is shorter and similar, but with a return of the vocals for a more Zeuhl-like track, and combining the best bits of Shardaz/Isis to create what is the best song for me. Yog - the most Zeuhl, and the most dramatic sounding track, I particularly like Truong's drumming here, and this is by far the next best. La Rhune unfortuantely goes back to the style of Shardaz, where nothing really develops and the album ends pretty weakly....

...BUT thankfully there's now a bonus track. Montreal is a really great live Jazz track with some Zeuhl elements, and its pretty much worth buying/listening to the album just for it. Guest female vocals, not sure who it is, but it complements the excellent saxophony from Seffer and some great percussion.

The album itself, 2.5 stars, but the bonus track lifts it to a solid 3-3.5.

Released in the same year as Magma's MDK, Zao's debut album represents the first genuine divergence of Zeuhl as a genre, with Magma going darker and Zao retaining the jazzier lighter style of the Magma debut Kobaia.

Mauricia Platon, who sadly doesn't appear on later albums, provides scatty Zeuhl-ish Jazz Opera lyrics in a much more playful style than Magma's often doom-laden later albums. Her range is excellent, as is the electric violin of Rigaud which also adds something a bit different but only lasts one more album.

I won't go through track by track as there's little to choose between them. But as an entry point into Zeuhl this would be a pretty good one, embracing many jazz elements and even some early 70s funk (aided by the electric piano/violin). Despite her range though, having Platon has a sole vocalist does make things a little samey - it could perhaps do with a male equivalent to add some variety.

1. "Natura" (7:03) sounds so much like a modern Pat Metheny Group epic--but it pre-dates all that! Piano, chunky and jazzy bass, and nasal soprano (sopranino?) sax all sound good together. Jean-My is, for my tastes, a little quiet in the mix. (13.6875/15) 1.3125

2. "Tserouf" (8:59) a very tight funky jazz fusion song that could have come off of any of the American masters of the era--Miles, Chick, Stanley, Zawinal, even Jean-Luc Ponty, Area or Bob James! Great song. Very melodic. I particularly enjoy François Cahen's use of synthesizers in the middle section: he sounds so at home, so masterful (and so melodic--all the while pounding away on the piano beneath it all!) The third motif for the final third of the song sees Yochok'o and Didier trading solos like something straight out of Jean-Luc Ponty's greatest songs from the same period (especially from the Stéphane Grappelli, Aurora and Imaginary Voyage albums). (18.75/20)

3. "F.F.F. (Fleurs for Faton)" (2:34) ("Faton" is Fançois' nickname) A very nice little musical étude performed by piano, acoustic violin and bowed double bass--like a gift from Débussy or Fauré. (9.5/10)

4. "Kabal" (4:14) very tightly performed, fast-paced opening before stepping down to a slower tempo at 0:50 for some synth work--but then things ramp up again with EVERYBODY getting into the act, MAHAVISHNU style. The bass and drum work remain super tight and focused at the bottom throughout this display of whole-band virtuosity. Weird that I like Yochok'o's kazoo-like nasal horn (that sounds like a Middle Eastern surnai) much more than I do the soprano saxophone. There is, however, a little monotony with the hard repetition of the melodies in each motif that I find a bit irritating (not unlike some of the work in the songs of the Mahavishnu Orchestra). (9/10)

5. "Sadie" (3:43) opens rather loosely, as if the listener were walking by Jean-Luc Ponty performing as a street musician. The sopranino sax, bass, and electric violin melodies and harmonic support from the keys throughout this oft-shifting-tempo-ed song are gorgeous. At 2:40 we are even treated to an overdubbed solo track for a second and third violin. Nice. A creative, inventive song. (9.375/10)

6. "Free Folk" (10:44) there's a very relaxed vibe throughout this song--like a WEATHER REPORT song. As a matter of fact, there's very little here--or on this album--that harkens to Zeuhl music. It Feels and sounds like the Zao crew has shaken loose from the Vander clutches and moved fully into the jazz fusion fold. Nicely done. Probably the weakest song on the album--almost anti-climactic fill--but still good--and, weirdly interesting that I just commented on how much I enjoy Yochok'o's surnai-sounding nasal clarinet more than a soprano saxophone and yet on this song I find it almost cloyingly annoying. And then, right in the middle of the song, the band speeds up in a very Zeuhlish fashion (again, right after I'd pronounced the umbilicus severed!) Luckily this ends and is replaced by a vocal-only section for a minute or so before the whole band bursts out of the gate again for a frenetically celebratory final two minutes. Amazing construct and performances that seem a little mysteriously disjointed and haphazardly pieced together for my puny little brain to comprehend (much less accommodate). (17.625/20)

I like the direction the band is taking with this album: more fully into the fold of the Jazz-Rock Fusion movement, less entrenched in the roots of the world of Zeuhl. My biggest question is: why is Jean-My Truong so sedated and/or mixed so low in the soundscape (especially when compared to how awesomely forward he was mixed into the Shekina tracks)?

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of complex and highly-skilled Jazz-Rock Fusion.

1. "Joy!" (3:54) one of my all-time favorite "happy songs," "Joy" is a song that just grooves and gets into your bones so that you can't help but get up and dance, be happy. Of course its in the funk being delivered by Gérard Prévost's bass, Jean-My Truong's drums, composer François Cahen's awesome keyboards, and Pierre Guignon's percussion, but it's also in the way the strings and Yochok'o Seffer's nasal saxophone holds notes, thereby allowing the instruments beneath him to be more noticed. (10/10)

2. "Yen-Lang" (8:10) The gentle use of ethnic flutes and percussion bells and shakers in the long (four-minute) opening section are awesome, as are the strings later. Once the song begins to "move," once can tell how the band members have retained some of the band's Zeuhl foundations with its quiet start and slow build, eventually using a pulsing, bass-infused, almost-single-chord (single key) melody line. An enjoyable and atmospheric song that comes across as more of a natural, primitive, group contemplation tune. (13.25/15)

3. "Zohar" (10:53) opens at a pretty fast speed with all band members laying it all on the line--though none more than drummer, Jean-My Truong. By the third minute the music transitions radically to an all-strings format, here sounding very much like something from one of the early SHAKTI albums (which would be virtually impossible since the initial Shakti recording sessions were occurring at almost the exact same time [July of 1975] as this material). At 5:00 bass, drums, keys and percussion sneak back in while strings disappear. Cahen's experimentation with keyboard sound takes over for a bit. Though the band is tight in their occasional cohesiveness (like in the whole-band burst in the final 90 seconds), the song lacks a unifying flow and overall feels a bit more like an experiment in experimentalism. (17.75/20)

4. "Metatron" (8:17) opens with Zeuhlish voices and sax and bass before taking off on a run through a series of challenging sections of disciplined precision-timed chord sequences. At two minutes, driving bass and drum race us along while keys, horns and voices move at a deliberately contrasting snail's pace. Things finally shift around the frenetically-paced drums as bass and keys open the way for some sax and keyboard solos. This smoother part is very reminiscent of both Weather Report and even Brand X (as well as Magma). An impressive song displaying an impressive drummer! (18/20)

5. "Zita" (4:38) François Cahen's second composition on the album (the others are all attributed to Yochok'o) opens quietly with sophisticated chamber strings play while electric piano and bass gently support weaving into a little soundtrack chamber music exercise with a sound that is kind of similar to both Eberhard Weber and Vangelis. The presence of the lone soprano voice slightly in the background is a very cool effect. Beautiful and peaceful. A tender, contemplative song that I adore! (9.5/10)

6. "Bakus" (5:13) is just angular weirdness--not unlike the music of 1990s Japanese artists BONDAGE FRUIT and KOENJI HYAKKEI. François' keys, bass, and drums really put their Zeuhl chops on full display here but really it's Seffer's vocals that I love the most: here sounding more like the fore-runner of those from 21st Century Japanese bands Koenji Hyakkei or OOIOO. Still, this is a solid song. (8.875/10)

Total Time 40:54

Opening with one of my all-time favorite 'happy songs', "Joy!" the rest of the album is interesting for the range of emotions it takes the listener through. Though Seffers, Cahen, Prévost and the rest of the band continue to move farther away from their Magma roots, and more into that of the Jazz-Rock/Fusion sub-genre, this is still an album I'd classify as 'Zeuhl'--unlike their next one, Kawana, which is pure jazz fusion (perhaps due to the addition of classically-trained, jazz/J-R Fusion-leaning violinist Didier Lockwood). There's something I like so much about this album. Kind of like the way I feel about AREA's Arbeit Macht Frei versus the more polished and virtuosic follow up, Crac!

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of Zeuhlish Jazz-Rock Fusion.