“Tribal Dance” (MoonJune Records, 2014)
This is the Tohpati’s third release on the Moonjune label. Tohpati Ario Hutomo is the formidable fusion guitarist from Indonesia. Moonjune has been releasing fabulous fusion from Indonesia, one of the hotspots for some of the finest and most original jazz-rock fusion in recent years.
What makes Tohpati so appealing aside from his dazzling technique and his wide-range of guitar sounds, is his use of Indonesian melodies and rhythms combined with American rock and state of the art jazz-rock fusion.
On Tribal Dance, Tohpati is joined by two renowned jazz musicians, American bassist Jimmy Haslip and drummer Chad Wackerman.
Tohpati Ario Hutomo (better known as Tohpati) learned classical guitar at the age of ten, and his talents and reputation quickly flourished. While in his early twenties, in 1994, he joined the Indonesian jazz fusion band, simakDialog.
Tohpati recorded three solo albums with Sony Music, Tohpati, Serampang Samba, and It’s Time, and played on three simakDialog albums, Lukisan, Baur and Trance/Mission prior to becoming a MoonJune artist. Since that time he has played on two more simakDialog releases, 2007’s Patahan (MJR015), and 2009’s Demi Masa (MJR024) — and released his first international album as a leader and featured artist, Tohpati Ethnomission’s “Save The Planet“.
If you love creative electric guitar jazz-rock fusion, get this outstanding recording.