Spotlight: Jon Hassell

Fascinoma
Producer: Ry Cooder
Water Lily Acoustics 70
Jon Hassell is best-known for his dark, throbbing ethno-techno sound, with his trumpet mutated through a mist of electronic effects. But on "Fascinoma," Hassell unplugs his horn and blows some improvisations that are as swampy as anything he's released. He turns Duke Ellington's "Caravan" into a phantom desert journey and entwines his trumpet around the South Indian flutes of Ronu Majumdar on "Nature Boy." Among Hassell's guests on the album are guitarist Ry Cooder and a surprising turn from pianist Jacky Terrasson. Usually heard in bop-oriented jazz settings, Terrasson is spectral here and using a ghost-voice to answer Hassell's trumpet. Although Hassell sneaks in some samples from Rick Cox on the traditionally non-electric Water Lily Acoustics label, the largely improvised "Fascinoma" has an organic ambience that lets some air into Hassell's usually dense interior panoramas.