Tribal Tech: X It's been more than ten years since Tribal Tech's last release, and if this uncompromising fusion group was beginning to show signs of wear and tear by the time of Rocket Science (ESC, 2000), its return to recording proves that sometimes a hiatus can be a healthy thing. After working through a number of personnel shifts, guitarist Scott Henderson and bassist Gary Willis who introduced the group with Spears (Passport, 1985), releasing eight more albums and one compilation between 1986 and 2000 finally found the perfect collaborators in keyboardist Scott Kinsey and drummer Kirk Covington by 1992's Illicit (Mesa/Blue Moon, 1992). It's this seminal incarnation that returns for X, and the result rivals TT's criminally out-of-print Tribal Tech (Relativity, 1991) as its finest hour...

...After three recordings together, the group moved away from preconception and began composing around lengthy studio jams with Thick (Zebra, 1999). If the idea of pulling form from the ether is not particularly new, TT certainly rivals the best of them in sculpting pieces from open-ended improvs that belie their lack of preconception and, instead, feel more intrinsically structured. What makes X a significant leap over Thick and Rocket Science is that while the mid-tempo swinger "Let's Get Swung" feels like a jam, "Anthem" absolutely does not possessed, as it is, of more complex changes, though when it kicks into Henderson's incendiary solo near the end, it's over an unrelenting groove. The gentle "Palm Moon Plaza" is similarly episodic, with Kinsey's dense synths creating a gorgeous cushion over which Henderson's whammy bar-driven intro swoops and soars, while "Got Faith 'n' Phat" is gospel on steroids.
    There's plenty of muscular solo space and everyone has grown considerably since they were last together but what X represents, a decade on, is the ultimate destination of TT's compositional approach, one which leverages on in-the-moment spontaneity, but then revisits and applies the greater sophistication that underscores every member of the group. Whether or not Tribal Tech will tour or if it will record again is uncertain, but if X is its overdue final statement, it allows the group to go out on one heckuva a high note. And there's no reason not to wish for more to come from a group that feels fresh, reinvigorated and creatively revived. ~ John Kelman, allaboutjazz.com


...To put it in a nutshell: there's progress in Tribal Tech's music, but I think that most fans are not waiting for a major change. They were just happy with the superb songs from the past and they want to continue listening to the impressive craftsmanship in the future as well. However, the samples in Corn Butter add a new dimension to the already awesome skills of these musicians.
   It definitely builds a bridge to the more modern fusion of recent years. Speaking for myself, I'm a fan from the beginning and I don't think Tribal Tech will ever make a bad album, because they're technically superb and their compositions are always flawless...


...Instrumentations flow in a very natural manner as general motifs (undoubtedly their "musical sketches") are developed through each musician embellishing each other's performance with supplementary and counter ideas.
  There's the feeling that they're genuinely playing off each other's musical flourishes with bursts of virtuosity shining through on occasion rather than technical ability being a dominant force...

------------------------------------------------