NO MYSTERY

The jazz fusion renaissance of the 70s has many big names attached to it. Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Mahavishnu Orchestra, Weather Report, Masayoshi Takanaka, and so many more, so much that the list could honestly go on for an eternity. In fact, you could say the jazz fusion renaissance never ended in the wake of the 80s as it is still highly influential to this day, almost that it goes on forever. Perhaps the late and great Chick Corea knew this, and thought to give it his own spin of things, but rather then go for the avant garde touches that his colleagues would do, he'd go to a more accessible direction, combining the genre with latino jazz, prog rock, and on this album and Where Have I Known You Before in particular, funk.

No Mystery is the group's 6th album, 5th if you consider Corea's 1972 album of Return To Forever as something a part of his own solo discography. It was released in 1975 with some high praises, even winning a Grammy. In regards to the jazz fusion movement, it could be seen as a more attainable outlook to what Herbie Hancock put out on the table with his album of Head Hunters, straying away from their more proggy jazz rock sounds to a more routed jazz funk volume that is quite energetic in its wake.

The best thing about this album to me is that it is extremely fun. It really put the fun into funk music, containing these joyous moments of vivacious jazz and rock, fused into this electrifying mix of style, and at points beauty. The first side for me is definitely the highlight, with tracks like Dayride, Flight Of The Newborn, and Excerpt From The First Movement Of Heavy Metal having this giant quality and superb merry that I have a huge affinity for, though the second half with the slightly more overtly jazz fusions songs like the title track and the two part Celebration Suite are also really nice, having this more beautiful side to this vibrant album.

Another thing that gives me great joy is clearly how inspirational this album is, especially when looking at the Japanese city pop sound of the late 70s through late 80s. While city pop is a lot more rooted in, well, pop, you can definitely find a link here to some city pop artists like Masayoshi Takanaka and Himiko Kikuchi, whom both I am a big fan of. I think this just brings me a lot of happiness because it shows that no matter where or when in the world, an album can reach out into the right hands, and create this dynamic and new sense of art, even if the album comes from a place that has quite a different culture to that of where it lands. I just find that nice.

Though, if there is one thing I am not quite fond of is how the synths sound. I feel like at certain points they are kind of dry, and almost a bit played much. I think there are points, like in the first part of the Celebration Suite where the synth keys actually work really well and add a nice dynamic to the album, but for the most part I think some of the songs like Jungle Waterfall and Sofistifunk should've held the synths back a bit and allow the other instruments to shine, or at least not go so aggressive as they did on those two songs.

A high recommendation, especially if you enjoy albums like Head Hunters or Get Up With It. It holds all the right formulas that make jazz funk and fusion so great, and adds a bit more to lighten the mood of any day. I give it two thumbs up.