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Roberto Badoglio: Re-Evaluation-Time

  Tobias Fischer

Italian-born Berklee-trained bassist Badoglio is as fascinated with 70s fusion as any other 20something wonk, but rather than taking one of two ill-advised paths – feather-and-mink funk-pimp posturing or trying too hard to get Return to Forever’s acid-weirdness down to a science – he puts down such easy-listening progressive breeze you don’t even know your brain is undergoing surgery.

His playing is jaw-dropping, up there with, yes, Jaco, be it on the getting-situated intro-track “Scirocco’s Theory” (it’s as eggheaded as it looks), the only half-kidding video-game patter of “Bruce Wayne On the Run,” the space-scaping “Dojo” or the ethnic rollcoaster “Essaouira Marketv” – and mind you, even through several modal and world-music ideas, the album flows like you won’t believe. A quite but massively powerful study.

By Eric Saeger

Homepage: Roberto Badoglio
Homepage: Spice-Rack Records