Arkana Music's brand of jazz cherishes the bop of the early and mid-60's, where it stays true to the form of the music while taking improvisation to any and all creative heights. In jazz, fans and afficionados enjoying flocking to their favorite albums because of the great music, the fantastic musicianship, the way all of this sounds in the right room taken in by the right microphones, many reasons are given for why an album becomes someone's personal favorite, and I feel that Hyprovisation (self-released) will be one of those albums.

The band (Ali Berkok-drums; Gord Mowat-bass; Mark Laver-saxophone, Jake Oelrichs-drums) take on an approach of embracing the theme of each song, and then moving behind the door, underneath it, within the keyhole, and sometimes hanging on the multi-locks. In other words, these guys know how to play with the kind of tenacity which comes from not only knowing your instrument, but knowing how to play music. All of the musicians stand-out, but Laver's sax work leans a bit to the ways of Sonny Rollins and Ornette Coleman. Berkok's playing is something you could listen to all day, whether it's that gentle wordplay that helps move the song along, or the kind of spacing Monk fans wille eat up like crazy. A track like "Brooding" could easily be a song of observation, looking at the sleekness of a rainy downtown street from the window of a limousine, or watching snow fall in reverse. Berkok's solo in "Brooding" is beautiful, one can only wonder what was in his mind as he was playing it. Also a standout in this recording is drummer Oelrichs, who dedicates himself to adding color within the main themes and solos, but knows how to say "I'M HERE" with a few flashy hits. While very different from drummers such as Brian Blade and Ben Perowsky, each of them know their position in the band and the music but each have the attitude of a drummer which will tell fellow drummers "how ya like me now?"

I enjoy jazz albums that sound good, and Hyprovisation very much has that healthy Hi-Pro Glow. The cover art is also very cool, nice to see an illustrated cover for a jazz album that isn't abstract, and has a sense of humor.
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