Dave Weckl is a big kit drummer with explosive skills and a first rate resume in both the jazz and pop arenas. Perpetual Motion is his eighth album as a leader, and he draws on both branches of that resume to create music with strong, melodic accessibility that still provides plenty of room for improvisational efforts by his band, which includes saxophonist Brandon Fields, keyboardist Steve Weingart and drummer Tom Kennedy.
     The band is augmented by an additional horn section on three cuts, and two tracks feature vocal contributions from Hussain Jiffry and Sanjay Divecha, with Weckls young daughter Claire's also featured on "Child's Play." The sound of the quartet predominates, though, in keeping with Weckl's desire to record music that he can reproduce on stage. The four musicians have a strong compatibility, with the relationship between Weckl and Kennedy being particularly impressive. The strength of the rhythm section frees up Weingart and Fields to carry the melodies, usually doubling, and to take solid, disciplined solos.
    The Dave Weckl Band has a broad musical vocabulary, incorporating straight jazz, fusion and world music influences and infusing them with an energy that allows them to evade being lumped into the "smooth jazz" camp while still providing touchstones that give the music an appeal that ranges beyond the hard core jazz audience. I might prefer a bit more freedom in the arrangements, because I don't think that any of the players get the opportunity to display their full range on Perpetual Motion, but this is a solid effort and Weckl's talent as a composer is beginning to match his consummate skill as a drummer.