For most jazz artists, the desire to reach a pop constituency short-circuits the very creative impulses that inspired them in the first place. Happily, there are exceptions, and one of them is drummer and composer Jack DeJohnette. DeJohnette originally emerged as a member of the Charles Lloyd Quartet and went on to become an influential jazz-rock innovator through his virtuoso rhythm work on Miles Davis's breakthrough recordings Bitches Brew and Live-Evil and later as a session ace and a bandleader.

Now, on Parallel Realities, DeJohnette has created an instrumental tour de force brimming with lyrical grace and propulsive energy. The drummer's collaborators – Pat Metheny and Herbie Hancock – are old hands at satisfying vox populi without subverting their jazz roots. Some of DeJohnette's tunes bear more than a passing resemblance to Metheny's jazz-rock arrangements, but on a whimsical, upbeat tune like "Nine Over Reggae," DeJohnette revels in his own dancing, rhythmic style. Elsewhere, DeJohnette pushes Metheny to the limit on the exotic title tune, the boppish "Dancing" and the bluesy "John McKee." In its impeccable balance of romance and revelation, Parallel Realities is what fusion was meant to be: a contemporary melding of attitudes and styles, not simply highbrow elevator music. (RS 585)

CHIP STERN