Cab - Theatre De Marionnettes

Undeniably one of the few ‘A’ grade jazz-rock/fusion bands left in the world, Cab comprising French/American bass genius Bunny Brunel, keyboard/guitar wiz Tony MacAlpine and the tireless drummer Virgil Donati, released their latest album Theatre De Marionnettes last year. The awesome trio played at the Blue Frog to promote their album at the time of the release, not the first performance in the city for both Bunny and Virgil who have played at the NCPA on previous occasions. The album was mastered at the Yatra Studios in Mumbai and produced by Sandeep Chowta, who along with Bunny and Tony composed all the tracks between themselves.

When it comes to music that is greatly improvisational in its base such as Jazz, there is a fear that the pull that one gets in a live set up may be lost on record. But fortunately the guys have engaged a decent amount of pull on the record courtesy of some nice trade offs between Bunny and Tony. Despite the reassuringly brilliant level of musicality the mature compositions show few signs of pomposity. Tracks such as “The Ventriloquist” and “The Pub” have enough movements in them to keep even the average ear well entertained, apart from having well-seasoned ears nodding in approval. On Sandeep’s “The Sultan of Brunel” Tony walks through some great picked runs, not refraining from tipping his hat to the great Al Di Meola.

The guitar stands the dominant instrument on the album, but Bunny hardly one to be left out of the crowd, executes his ever-busy style of playing with every chance available to him. Virgil, famous for his explosive live drum sets puts his jazz leanings on display with some silky drum work, characterized with slight but calculative variations. The use of an additional guitarist (Freddie Fox) on the tracks “Just Do It” and “Jaco Rocco Circus” pays off well, as the chugging rhythm work adds a fun and groovy vibe to both the songs. There has also been extensive use of pianos and keyboards on the album, with a good percentage of the guest artists playing the keys. The piano both electric and the acoustic ones have been used to enhance the tone of the other instruments, while its cousin the keyboard has been used by and large as a synthesizer.

Featuring the maestro Chick Corea on a couple of the tracks, the album adorns a noticeable similarity to Chick’s former band Return To Forever (RTF) for a large part of the album. One obvious difference would be the spark brought into the sound by the abundant use of legato on the album, a component most definitely absent under Meola’s fastidious staccato work.

The music on the album has stayed close to the music that it is inspired by. It is at large a product of musicians worth their weight in gold squeezing the best out of their respective instruments of forte. A must hear for fans of this form of music.