SINTESIS

A low-key band that hailed from Argentina, Sintesis delivered a sole self-titled eclectic album of deranged instrumental jazz- fusion in 1976, and what a precious little (quite literally!) obscurity it is! Running a scant twenty-eight minutes, fiery ballistic guitar-driven eruptions are given almost a touch of the wildest RPI/Italian prog discs by way of violin, clarinet, flute and saxophone weaving in and out of the punchy arrangements, and it frequently calls to mind a group such as German band Dzyan, with a welcome murky toughness to its dirty embers.

Opener `Lo Obvio Según Yo ' is book-ended by twisting turning Dzyan-like races, crammed with energetic guitar runs that sprint through everything from grooving bluesy struts and chilled jazzy saunters, ably backed up by thick bass strolls and rumbling drums. There's hints of chamber prog and bands like Curved Air via searing violin on `Sin Nada' over a rattle of drums and spirited trilling flute breeziness with some playful whimsical breaks and grooving jamming that reminds of the lengthy improvised live performances of Focus, and `La Necesidad De Amar...A Veces' is a compact up-tempo jazz/fusion workout powered forwards by twin saxophone attacks after droning clarinet.

Side B's loopy and frantic `Algunas Maneras De Expresarme' quickly tears into wailing and distorted guitar electric soloing and gnarling bass twists driven by manic drumming, and the brief `Todo Lo Necesario Para Lo Necesario' is a drowsy clarinet and sax comedown that lurches to playful life as a reinvigorating jazzy cruise. But best of all is the completely infectious closer `El Final' that allows for plenty of improvised dancing flute, grumbling bass, pumping sax and scorching guitar soloing in between cool reprising themes, and it's a lively jazz-rock stomper to finish on.

A bonus track at the end of the recent CD reissue pads the album out to a whopping 33 minutes, and `Reminiscencias' is a nice strangled and echoing guitar piece. It clearly dates from a later time with its clearer and fuller sound, but it's a cool laid back improvisation that doesn't detract from the main recording in any way.

Keen progressive followers may recognise violinist Sergio Polizzi who would end up contributing to Argentinian band Bubu's classic `Anabelas' two years later in 1978, but there is little information about what many of the rest of the players here got up to after the split of the group soon after. `Sintesis' at least remains a rip-roaring and addictive LP that needs to be heard by a wider progressive/jazz-fusion audience, and finally given a long overdue re-issue from the BlueArt label in 2016, it's better late than never to get to appreciate this dynamic rush of fire and energy from a powerhouse group of musicians.

Five stars.

One of Argentina's best kept secrets from the fertile and creative 1970s prog scene, SÍNTESIS was a band like no other in a nation that followed in the footsteps of the romantic Italian prog scene more than any other stylistic approach of progressive rock. Forming in the city of Rosario in 1973 by the power trio of Julio Alberto Cusmai (drums), Jorge Migoya (guitar) and Juan Carlos Ricci (bass), SÍNTESIS dropped its sole eclectic obscurity onto the market in 1976 right in the middle of the coup d'etat that rocked the nation and installed a military dictatorship for the next several years. The members barely escaped Argentina with their lives but it also meant the band that was only getting started came to an abrupt end.

One of the boldest and wildest bands of the entire Argentine 70s, SÍNTESIS' all instrumental self-titled release has become quite the underground sensation fetching hundreds of US dollars for a single original copy of the original Profeta Records vinyl. A bizarre mix of Crucis, East of Eden, Return to Forever, King Crimson and a touch of the pastoral Italian folky prog band of the same era, this short but sweet album of seven tracks packs a major punch despite its meager running time of slightly less than 33 minutes. As much as an eclectic prog sensation as a jazz-fusion excitation, SÍNTESIS flavored its power punch album with a roster of talented guest musicians who added the extra flavors of the saxophone, flute, clarinet and violin. The one glaring omission is any trace of keyboards.

Offering as many adventurous guitar workouts as jazzy interludes that find angularity avenue around every corner, SÍNTESIS unleashed some of the most demanding time signatures and captures the essence of avant-prog without deviating from its jazz focused mission. The knotty and shapeshifting compositions are restless and jittery little buggers and you can never predict what lurks around the corner with John Albercombie guitar freak outs one moment and then making a hairpin turn into a compelling duet between a violin and flute workout but the jazz never strays far and the funky guitar chord procession accompany the ceaseless soloing as well as tackling the more heady style of fusion that goes for the avant-jazz jugular. The overall effect is brash and in your face almost drifting into a heavier rock paradigm but always tethered to the sensual flutes and Miles Davis sax escapades.

Led by the imitable guitarist Jose Migoya, SÍNTESIS took fusion to the next level and despite crashing and burning and literally forced to scatter worldwide, the band more than offered a career's worth of creativity in a single album's worth of material with heady excursions into stop / start guitar stops, frenetic bass outbursts and John McLaughlin style of reckless abandon on crazy guitar soloing run amok. The beauty of the album is each track features a completely different theme and tackles a completely new approach making this one of the wildest and energetic deliveries of eclectic prog flavored fusion in the entire Argentine paradigm. With no clear core sound to the band's overall approach, the album really is a free for all of as many prog and fusion ideas under a single roof. As placidly beautiful as is demanding and avant-garde, it's no wonder why SÍNTESIS has become the top cult favorite of all 70s prog from South America's most prolific prog nation.

With an acumen of a seasoned band that had existed for years and years, the cohesion of the musicians involved is nothing short of breathtaking. An amazing achievement made all the miraculous by the album being recorded in the midst of one of Argentina's most disastrous years in its history. This is certainly one band i wish would've carried on abroad in some shape or form but given the hardships endured and the crisis that unfolded during its making, it appears we have to be grateful that not only this one was recorded but actually survived all the turmoil and can be experienced digitally in the modern era. In dire need of rediscovery and a repressing because despite a proper CD release it's still almost impossible to track a decent copy down at a reasonable price. One of my top picks of adventurous fusion from the 70s underground bar none.

A group of musicians with varying degrees of experience who met and formed a band through associations at the University in Rosario, Sintesis came from pre-military regime Argentina, a promising band of adventurous, even visionary creatives, whose progress and development was brought to a sudden end by the 1976 military overthrow of the Péron regime in Argentina and the successive "Dirty War" in which thousands of Argentines were killed, disappeared, and/or subjected to torture during a period of military oppression and authoritarian rule. The military junta engaged in a campaign of violence and repression against suspected political opponents, including left-wing activists, students, intellectuals, and even artists. Though the band members of Sintesis were able to avoid violence by fleeing to other places on the globe, some may recognize the name of violinist Sergio Polizzi for his contribution to BUBU's 1978 release, Anabelas.

1. "Lo Obvio Según Yo" (3:50) obtuse and angular music of high degree of difficulty, especially in terms of shifting, changing time signatures and suddenly-changing stylistic modalities. Though this still feels like some rudimentary whole-band practice exercise, the skill levels on display--especially in the first motif, are quite remarkable (even in the bluesy second motif, the longest, but more in the final one). (8.75/10) 2. "Sin Nada" (5:26) this one adds violin and flute to the mix, resulting in something much more jazz-classical in sound and nature--like something from Québecois band CONVENTUM, American band HAPPY THE MAN, Japanese proggers KENSO and MR. SIRIUS, or even some of AFTER CRYING's 1990s material. Again, the band has chosen to merge three different motifs into this one "song"--most of which really puts on display Sergio Polizzi's violin prowess, though flutist Oscar Tissera's talents are also to be noted. Guitarist José Migoya has the last turn in the spotlight but doesn't quite wow me as much as the previous two. (8.875/10)

3. "La Necesidad De Amar...A Veces" (3:42) a great song to display the talents of (and dispel my previous low estimation of) drummer Julio Cusmai and bass player Juan Ricci. Here the saxophonists (Chachi and Mariano Zarich) do a remarkable interweave of their two dynamic and soloing instruments: definitely the song's highlight and one of the more impressive displays on the album. (9.125/10)

4. "Algunas Maneras De Expresarme" (3:27) a guitar-centric song on which José Migoya gets the chance to "show off." Nice drum work in support by Julio Cusmai but my favorite parts are the interplay (and feeding off one another) of bass player Juan Ricci with José. (8.875/10)

5. "Todo Lo Necesario Para Lo Necesario" (2:21) a cool little centerless avant garde tune with bass, two saxes and clarinet opening the song before drums and, later, guitar join in. Several time shifts lead to different feeling motifs, all of which are pretty fascinating for the three-part weave being enacted over the top. (4.75/5)

6. "El Final" (8:02) in interesting start evolves into a song motif that sounds as if it came from a 1960s Beatnick-turned- Rock 'n' Roll band. The solos from sax, flute, and guitar are good--they almost succeed in distracting the listener from the very rudimentary rhythm tracks, but in the end it's just a two-chord vamp existing solely for as a vehicle for the veterans to show off their At 4:10 there is a little bridge that tries to get the listener's blood going which serves to make a break for the electric guitar to take a turn with a distorted fuzz sound. At 5:20 there is a stoppage to all rhythm instruments to allow for a two-flute and bass trio. At 6:05 drums and sax rejoin, making for a nice weave with the flutes and bass before falling into a 1960s game show theme song and then an uncalled-for (and, frankly, undeserved/unearned) drum solo to bridge us into yet another 1960s game show theme song. (13.125/15)

Total time: 27:13

7. "Reminiscencias" (bonus track on 2016 CD release) (5:30) a smoother, more groove-oriented and different, more synthesized and modern sound palette than the band's other pieces (which might explain how and why this song was not among the songs on the original release: it's more of a Smooth Jazz vamp over which guitarist José Migoya was able to play around on his new guitar synthesizer. Sounds more like something from the experimental period of Allan Holdsworth's SynthAxe period in the 1980s. (8.875/10)

An album of boundary-pushing creativity by a band of highly skilled, highly-disciplined musicians who had a musical vision that ranks among the greatest creatives in the world. The bass and drums are well-skilled, they are definitely not in the same league as the lead instruments. One of my problems with this collection of songs is how each and every song sounds as if performed and recorded by a totally new ensemble: some have violin, most don't; some have sax, some don't; some have guitar, some don't; none have keyboards(!); some songs feel free and loose, some feel restricted and like someone pushed "record" during a practice session. Most of the songs feel disconnected from one another

I do have to comment on the fact that other music reviewers before me have praised this album to what I think are rather excessive ends; I do not think that the products on this album stand up next to any level of top tier albums or songs from the lauded and honored Masters of J-R F, Avant/RIO, or prog, and nor do I think that any of the six songs on this 27-minute long EP (32:43 if you count the seventh song, "Reminiscencias" that was tacked on to the end for the 2016 CD re-release from BlueArt Records) represent polished or "finished," much less fully-developed, songs: they all could use a ton more work before they rise out of the "demo" level into public release level renderings. Yes, these are talented, spirited and ambitious men--especially the two seasoned veterans (flute player Oscar Tissera and sax player Mariano Zarich), but think about it: if music was really in the blood of these men, don't you think we would have heard more from more of them in the years after stability and artistic and intellectual freedoms were restored to their native country?

B-/3.5 stars; an intriguing albeit brief album of unfinished, unpolished songs that leave the listener wondering, "What if?" Rated up for pure, unrealized potential but then demerited for brevity--and for the temerity of trying to sneak in a "late addition" "wringer" in order to pad its legitimacy. If the music were as good as others would have us believe, I'd be more forgiving.