Album Notes

Recorded throughout 2010, “Jazz Explosion” is a collection of music written in the jazz idiom. While the name of the album would imply a sonically aggressive approach, these recordings retain the musical transparency necessary for true musical interplay. Recorded in two distinctly different settings, the March 9th session features Mike Chavez on Drums, Justin Bransford on Bass Guitar, and Manuel Ramirez Ruiz on Tenor Saxophone. These recordings are perhaps the more “explosive” session, Overcast especially hearkening back to the heydays of initial Fusion. The December 12th recording date features Case Tanner on Double Bass and Bass Guitar, and Milton Villarubia III on Drums. With Russell Scharf on Trumpet, this is the regular performance group of the Russell Scharf Jazz Trio-Jazz Explosion. These recordings, comprising the bulk of the album are decidedly more sparse, as well as more dynamically contained. “Electrizity”, the only live recording on the album, was recorded almost a year before any of the studio recording sessions came to fruition. It features the Jazz Explosion lineup with Manuel Ramirez Ruiz. “Jazz Explosion” is merely the beginning of a musical journey. To explore the idiom of jazz is not only learning the musical theory, mastering the sounds and textures, and ideally creating an emotional message; it is a journey of self discovery and growth, ending with the truly unique music that each person carries inside of themselves.