Serry, John
Exhibition
Rare & Collectible Vinyl Records

1979 Original Still In Shrink Wrap With Gold Promo Stamp On The Back Cover. ‘Hen John Serry Produced Exhibition In 1979, Fusion Was Controversial In The Jazz World; It Inspired The Sort Of Heated Debates That Had Surrounded Free Jazz In The 1960s And Bebop In The 1940s. Jazz Purists And Myopic Bop Snobs Argued That Fusion Wasn't Really Jazz, And Fusion Artists Rightly Countered That Fusion Was, In Fact, A Form Of Jazz -- That An Improviser Could Bring Rock And Funk Elements To The Table And Still Maintain A Jazz Mentality. Exhibition, Which Was Serry's First Album As A Leader, Bears That Out. The Pianist/Keyboardist, Who Was 25 When Exhibition Was Recorded, Demonstrates That Fusion Isn't Simply Instrumental Rock -- It Is Electric Music That Successfully Combines Jazz With Rock And Funk But Has All The Spontaneity, Intricacy, And Imagination That Have Characterized The Best Bop, Post-Bop, Swing, And Dixieland. Any Bop Snob Who Thinks That Fusion Isn't Intricate Should Pay Close Attention To "Nicole," "Mouse March," And Other Thoughtful Pieces That Serry Wrote For This Album. On Exhibition, Serry's Composing Underscores His Appreciation Of 1970s Fusion Outfits Like Weather Report, The Mahavishnu Orchestra, And Chick Corea's Return To Forever. But Serry Doesn't Go Out Of His Way To Emulate Any Of Them; The New Yorker Is His Own Person. It Is Important To Stress That Even Though Exhibition Is Fusion-Oriented, Serry Didn't Abandon His Knowledge Of Acoustic Straight-Ahead Jazz When He Produced This Album -- Playing Electric Keyboards Part Of The Time Didn't Mean That Serry Quit Being Influenced By The Acoustic Pianism Of Bill Evans, Keith Jarrett, And Chick Corea (Who Has Had No Problem Playing Fusion One Minute And Acoustic Post-Bop The Next). This Excellent LP Demonstrates That Fusion Isn't Pseudo-Jazz -- It Is Jazz In The True Sense Of The Word.” – Alex Henderson, AMG