Animation - Asiento (Rare Noise)

Although neither the group name nor album title hint at it, the tracklist shows that this is a concert remake of Miles Davis*’s seminal fusion album Bitches Brew. *Bob Belden, the soprano saxophonist in this sextet, is an expert on Miles’s electric music, and this comes off pretty well. With DJ Logic on turntables, it’s an updated take on the classic, and the rhythms laid down by bassist Matt Garrison and drummer Guy Licata are thoroughly modern, giving some tunes an electronica/dance flavor on the bottom. The new versions of the six tracks are fairly freeform; the band practiced the themes for a half hour, but otherwise wings it, and the results are different enough—more emphasis on solos, less on mood and timbre sound-sculpting—that this album successfully stands on its own merits. (rarenoiserecords.com)