With Moonshine, Dave Douglas and friends have made a modern jazz classic in the mold of the great 70’s fusion bands of Jon McClaughlin, Chick Corea and Joe Zawinul. It is rare to hear this kind of album in today’s environment and even more rare to hear it done so well. Like the great albums of the 70’s, Moonshine is just enough outside to challenge sensibilities, but not so far outside to be unapproachable. Throw in the Hammond B-3, Fender Rhodes, and electric guitars and you have a faithful reproduction of those bygone days.

All the tracks save one got 4 or 5 iTunes stars from me, which is quite rare. Moonshine and Married Life are my favorite tracks. Although Tough makes me dig out my old Mahavishnu albums. Married Life could have come off of any of those great albums. Although Douglas is the featured soloist, this is most definitely an ensemble effort all the way around.

I mentioned Chick Corea in my comparisons for this album, but I think McClaughlin and Zawinul are better comparisons. I think the Fender Rhodes makes me think of Corea. However, the song structure and performance style definitely lean more towards the edgy sound of the Mahavishnu Orchestra with a trumpet thrown in of course.

I wonder what the traditionalists are going to do with this album. I remember the howls when Bill Frissell won Downbeat’s album of the year with Nashville, although that album definitely leaned country. Leaning electric isn’t quite as sinful I suppose. Regardless, jazz eats it’s young and although Douglas is far from young, I’m curious to see how this album is received.