Canadian jazz musician, Ron Davis is the founder of SymphRONica, a orchestra which combines jazz, world, groove, pop, and classical music in its recordings. Their latest album, Upfront, is a perfect example of what you can expect from them. Not paying any attention to long held rules and continuously moving the boundaries of what can be done when you blend musical genres, the diverse collective of musicians each brings something different making a finished product which is not like anything else out there. One member of the group is Mike Downes, multiple Juno award winning jazz bassist, who also produced this album and has worked with Molly Johnson and Ranee Lee in the past. Your mind will be blown in regards to what can be done when you cross breed string quartet with jazz quartet. The end result is a sound which truly represents modern jazz music. As a listener, you don’t have to worry about it being too heady; it still remains accessible. Listening to Upfront I was struck by how this truly represents Canadian music with all its hybrids and people from different backgrounds working together to create something new and fresh. This is their third album recorded together (Ron Davis’ 12th!).
Ron Davis SymphRONica – Upfront
