Peter Kienle - guitar Tom Clark - saxes, EWI Jeremy Allen - bass Danny Deckard - drums

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Splinter Group is what happens when a group of middle aged jazz musicians discover that they all listened to that 'other' kind of jazz, which was popular in the 1970s. It used to be called 'Fusion' back then because it took elements from Jazz, Pop, Rock and ethnic styles and 'fused' them into new and adventurous configurations. Driven by the most energetic practitioners of the style - Weather Report, Mahavishnu Orchestra and Return to Forever - it gave younger concert-goers a sophisticated, high-octane experience. While this experience inspired many young musicians to practice obsessively, learning about odd meters and unheard-of harmonic concepts, and that it was actually okay to dig in and crank it up, this new music was very hard to play and by the time most of them had gathered enough expertise to become 'Fusioneers' in their own right the wave had passed and slowly 'Fusion' became more accessible, less adventureous, and smooth. By the 1990s 'Fusion' was synonymous with artists like Kenny G and the Rippingtons. But they say everything moves in waves. At least in the music business this might be due to the fact that those musicians who really had a deep relationship with a certain kind of music or a particular musician or band when they were in their formative years they have to go through a gestation period before they can step out and present the results of a more or less thorough synthesis of early influences, new styles, personal taste, advances in music technology, etc, to old fans of the genre and hopefully also a younger audience.

And this is where Splinter Group comes in - even if we are bit late.