Fusion Engine Shifting Gears on Traffic
Lenny White's drums drive this 2006 session with the fusion muscle that made him a founding figure.
Traffic, released in 2006, puts drummer Lenny White at the center of the record. White is one of the founding figures of jazz fusion, having come up through the Return to Forever band led by Chick Corea in the 1970s, and that background shapes how this album moves. The grooves are driven and physical, with White's kit doing much of the steering rather than simply keeping time behind the soloists.
The lineup gives the record its texture. Larry Coryell's guitar brings a fusion-era bite, and Victor Bailey's bass locks in underneath to keep the low end busy and forward-moving. The interplay between the three is where the album works best, with White pushing and reacting to the other two rather than sitting back.
Traffic is worth hearing for anyone who wants to hear where White's sound sits within his own career and the wider fusion lineage. It is not the place to start with fusion drumming, but for listeners already familiar with White's Return to Forever work, it offers a more recent and more personal view of the same approach.
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