SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: CINDY BLACKMAN SANTANA – COHERENCE

CINDY BLACKMAN SANTANA
COHERENCE
MACK AVENUE RECORDS

Following 2020’s Give The Drummer Some, Cindy Blackman Santana has returned with her seventh solo studio album, Coherence. The album takes a distinct turn towards contemporary jazz fusion, while flexing performances from the likes of John McLaughlin, Matt Garrison, Ray Angry, Dave Eggar, and Carlos Santana himself.

Coherence opens with the warm, jazzy hook of “Illumination,” which sees Blackman trade solos between melodic phrasings from the rest of the band. In many ways, “Illumination” serves as both an entry point to the fusion-inspired direction that Blackman is pursuing across this record, while also introducing the band through a string of virtuosic solos from each member, culminating with the return of the song’s head set atop a final solo from Blackman. The following track, “Blue Whale,” is driven by a sideways shuffle that plays with a sense of rhythmic and harmonic tension, all the while remaining truly funky. This is then followed by the scorching riffs and solos of “The Message Is Love,” featuring Santana. If “Illumination” feels more like a classic take on jazz fusion, then “Blue Whale” and “The Message Is Love” are both much more modern, with the former feeling akin to that of Mark Guiliana and Donny McCaslin, while the latter leans further towards the hard rock, funk, and psychedelia of P-Funk, as if George Clinton led a jazz orchestra. As far as openings go, the first three songs of Coherence display a wide range of fusion sounds of Blackman and set up Coherence with some of the strongest material on the album.

Throughout its 17 tracks, Blackman and company shine as they take the listener through an odyssey of sheer, relentless musicianship. That being said, the album suffers from a lack of a standout song. While the opening trio is certainly magnificent, Coherence can sometimes feel as if it is meandering through a series of fusion passages. That is not to say that the record itself isn’t good, and, again, the musicianship remains exceptionally strong; however, Coherence feels excessive and may have benefited from being divided into multiple records. In fact, the many songs featuring Santana capture such a different energy than the rest of the album – from the bombast of “The Message Is Love” to the more traditional balladry of “Capri” – that this collection of Blackman and Santana collabs could have made for a stellar EP on their own. Despite this, there are countless moments of greatness throughout the album, including the Santana and McLaughlin-led “Guitar Love”, the cinematic “Circe”, and the funky strut of “Eclipse”.

Blackman remains criminally underrated as both a drummer, songwriter, and bandleader. Perhaps her own musicianship is overshadowed by her own resume and that of her regular collaborators; nonetheless, Blackman is a phenomenal drummer, and Coherence should leave no doubt about it. As she navigates the constant changes and turns, Blackman leads her band through highly experimental territory while improvising seamlessly with equal attention to both groove and chops. The result is an impressively modern – and albeit long – jazz fusion record that pulls from a range of influences and eras within the genre.

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