This collection combines the second and fourth LPs for Milestone by the Indian-born electric violin virtuoso/composer Dr. L. Subramaniam. Indian Express and Mani & Co. from 1984 and 1986 respectively present some of the most imaginatively conceived brilliantly performed pieces ever to fall under the heading of “fusion”--or, in Dr. Subramaniam’s term, “neo-fusion.” But that all-purpose term doesn’t begin to describe the end-product resulting from these sessions. A former medical doctor by training and scion of a distinguished musical family, Subramaniam (b. 1947) vividly blends South Indian and European classical musics with contemporary jazz, world, folk forms, and progressive rock. Drawing from a starry supporting cast featuring flutists Hubert Laws and Bud Shank, trumpeter Maynard Ferguson, guitarists Larry Coryell and Jorge Strunz, bassist Stanley Clarke and drummer Tony Williams, Subramaniam (who’s also heard on viola, violin synthesizer, and a mini-harp known as the svarmandal) and company are dazzling throughout.

with Alex Acuna, Stanley Clarke, Larry Coryell, Ardeshir Farah, Maynard Ferguson, Stix Hooper, Hubert Laws, Emil Richards, Manoochehr Sadeghi, Bud Shank, Jorge Strunz, S. Vijayashree, Ron Wagner, Tony Williams, and others