Jazz Archives

This is indeed one of the best bands i´ve heard from South America and maybe the whole Latin America! I had the big, big luck to see these guys playing live in march this year and it was a blast, the way they took the stage and performed like only the experimented ones do, really amazed us all. Also i had the chance to meet Julio Tobar (Sax, flute player and singer) and Cristián Larrondo (Bass & stick) and let me tell you that they are very nice, young and humble guys. It was a great experience to chat with these extremely talented musicians.

OK, to the album... I did get to know this CD and their debut at the same time because i bought both arfter the concert and i really liked their first homonym disc but this second album is just something else. You can clearly hear the improvement of the compositions and their tighter and more original sound. Althought you can still listen to the KC influence, they reached maturity and creativeness at the top. Another thing i liked about this output is that Julio doesn't sing as much as the 1st album, and that's a good sign because they focused on the instrumental part which is their real strength (keep playing sax and flute pal !).
All of these guys are very high skilled musicians, and you can hear it as the songs progress, no one really overshadows another member. It is very common to say that the guitarist or the keyboardist (here doesn't exist) or X person is the leader or the dominant player of the band, but in this case the group is quite cohesive and you can enjoy equally all instruments (BTW they have both drummer and percussionist).
Without being exactly influences, i can hear some little flashes here and there from bands like Anekdoten(and KC of course), Rush, Cabezas De Cera, Fromuz, VDGG, Porcupine Tree, Naikaku, Jethtro Tull and Flor the Loto among others.
I'm pleased to see how are emerging new great bands in all the different fields of Prog, like Fromuz in the Jazz-Rock fusion genre or Flor the Loto and Cabezas De Cera from Latin America, and the excellent Mar De Robles which fits in both categories i mentioned.

:::Review by FranMuzak:::

Mar de Robles – Indígena (2007)

1. Chúcaro (08:28)
2. X_2004 (04:19)
3. Perimontu (05:43)
4. Rancagua Nocturno (07:42)
5. Aborigen (04:58)
6. Sobreviviente (05:43)
7. Chileneos (07:37)
8. Mar De Robles (05:20)
9. Ubuntu (05:33)

Musicians
- Julio Tobar / vocals, tenor saxophone, traverse flute
- Rodrigo Moris / guitars
- Cristián Larrondo / fretless bass, Chapman Stick
- Jesús Parada / drums, percussion
- Ignacio Larrondo / congas, djembé, percussion