Alekos Galas, A Fusionary

Review By: Jeff Becker
Ehos Records

With a career that spans over 4 decades, it is with great anticipation audiences have waited for the release of Mediterranean Breeze from the virtuosic Bouzouki artist Alekas Galas. With four decades under his belt one would expect to hear true mastery, this expectation is not let down, as Galas has created a truly masterful weave of World, Pop and Smooth Jazz into his debut release as a leader. What makes this release even more intriguing is the innovation of adding Bouzouki, a widely recognized world instrument most commonly used in Greek music. The result is magnificent, and highly successful. Galas has created a landmark sound, melding for the first time a Bouzouki with the commercial sounds of Smooth Jazz and Pop along with cuts that are a hybrid of World fused with adult-contemporary influences.

Today we will examine the cut “The Road Home” which is augmented by legendary artists; Marc Russo (alto sax), Abraham Laboriel (bass) and Alex Acuna (congas, percussion). What is so delightful about this cut is the amount of musical prowess exhibited by each player and how is does not detract away from the musicality of the song. This cut has a contagious beat that highlighted even further by the musicians abilities on their instruments and the evident chemistry between the players. Strongly influenced by the Smooth Jazz genre but given the Greek spicing of the Bouzouki, the song is elevated to a new level of enjoyment, a grooving piece that each player clearly leaves their signature on. Galas have done a wonderful job connecting all the genre dots together for an extremely enjoyable listen no matter your setting. Highly Recommended!