Recorded with a who's who of fusion titans including trumpeter
Eddie Henderson, bassist
Stanley Clarke, and keyboardist
Herbie Hancock,
Dance of Magic channels the lessons drummer
Norman Connors learned in the employ of
Pharoah Sanders,
Sam Rivers, and
Sun Ra, marshaling Latin rhythms, electronic textures, and cosmic mysticism to create nondenominational yet deeply spiritual funk-jazz. The sprawling 21-minute title cut spans the entirety of the record's first half, capturing a monumental jam session that explores the outer edges of free improvisation but never steps past the point of no return.
Connors' furious drumming is like a trail of bread crumbs that leads his collaborators back home. The remaining three tracks are smaller in scale but no less epic in scope, culminating with the blistering "Give the Drummer Some."