Charged Particles
Sparks
BOPO
Review by Jeff Charney

In days of lore (1970’s), before Smooth Jazz was invented, Fusion Jazz was king and all the rage. Return To Forever, George Duke, Jan Hammer, John McLaughlin, Larry Coryell and Eleventh House, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, Stanley Clarke, Jean Luc-Ponty were among the many that were leading the way. They were challenging and interesting times. Out of Ohio comes Charge Particles, a contemporary jazz fusion group with their sophomore release full of wonderful fusion surprises. The group has been around for eleven years and are extremely tight in the musical sense. There are 13 songs on this disc, all but one of them written by a member of the band. No covers! The music is exciting, challenging, dramatic, classical, and colorful with lots of texture. Each song tells a story. From time to time you come across musicians who make this kind of music, but these guys do it well. Smooth Jazz radio won’t touch this with a ten foot poll, so that means you should. You can purchase Sparks through the groups web site http://www.chargedparticles.com/.