When Spirit Fingers issued their self-titled 2015 debut, they were lauded for their collision of genres and rhythms under a jazz umbrella of their own design. Bandleader/pianist Greg Spero's musical career includes membership in the Buddy Rich Big Band and work with Kamasi Washington, Thundercat, and Halsey. The others include bassist Max Gerl, drummer Mike "Blaque Dynamite" Mitchell (a longtime member of Stanley Clarke's band), and guitarist Dario Chiazzolino (an award-winning sideman and bandleader whose acclaimed work with Dave Liebman, Billy Cobham, and his own Principles Sound quartet help to frame their musical fireworks). As ear opening as Spirit Fingers' debut was, it merely laid the foundation for the adventure on Peace, which is much more focused and ambitious.
While the group love to juxtapose genre attributes from organic and electric jazz, hip-hop, classical minimalism, breakbeat culture, and EDM, they do so here largely under an identifiable jazz fusion umbrella. While the knotty piano repetitions that undergird opener "Nails" come right out of the Philip Glass fakebook, Chiazzolino's legato playing asserts counterpoint as Mitchell hammers the rhythm home with layers of breaking snares and martial accents, while Gerl holds it all in place. Guest saxophonist Brandon Cook's addition to "Spirit Food" travels over syncopated breaks as Gerl punctuates the downbeat and Spero adds pulsed chords. It moves along seamlessly, melding post-bop improv and interlocking funky grooves. The proceeding "Kalashnikov" commences as particularly aggressive jazz fusion before Gerl and Spero shift toward post-bop modalism with fine solos. Initially, Chiazzolino assists with subtle yet glorious chord shapes before delivering a breathtaking solo that simultaneously references Allan Holdsworth and Al Di Meola. Spero and Gerl embrace salsa with burning piano montunos and a dancing bass line in closing. Guest Judi Jackson's vocal on the breezy, kinetic, break-driven "Goodbye" is a tuneful, midtempo ballad that walks a tightrope between pop, jazz, and syncopated soul and canny improv underneath from Spero and Mitchell. Another of her showcases is "London Blues," with a finger-popping scat. "Cokes with Two Gregs," with saxophonist Greg Ward, is a contemporary modal jazz jam with spiraling saxophones, McCoy Tyner-esque pianisms, and frenetic exploratory drumming. The post-bop fusion exercise "Cross Twine" contains a vamping bass line that Ornette Coleman would love. The remaining players exchange riffs and polyrhythms around and inside it. Chiazzolino moves the group to the ledge with his razor-wire soloing before Spero answers with short interlocutory chords and Mitchell pushes the band to the margin with syncopated fills, rolls, and rim shots. Peace is a next step for Spirit Fingers. While the approach here advances their textural, sonic, and compositional frameworks, it retains all the colorful elements that made their debut so exciting while integrating them inside a new space for contemporary jazz.