Vinyl Vault — Fermata, “Song From Ridges”

This week the Vinyl Vault features music from behind the Iron Curtain. We’ll hear some tracks from an album entitled, “Songs From Ridges” from the band Fermata. The album was released in 1977 when the band was based in Czechoslovakia. The album was released on the Czeck label Opus and the vinyl disc was manufactured in Czechoslovakia.

Czechoslovakia was a Central European country that existed from 1918 (immediately after World War I) to 1992 when the Soviet Union collapsed. It then broke into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. In 1977, Czechoslovakia was a communist country, very much under the thumb of the Soviets. Nevertheless, jazz fusion was alive and well and was performed by Fermata, among others.

“Song from Ridges” was the band’s second album. The group was a quartet with bass and drums along with guitar, keyboards, and a violinist as a guest upfront. Their sound was classic mid to late-70s fusion with a sound quite similar to the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Brand X.

Check out (pun intended) some fusion from Czechoslovakia with Geoff Anderson this Tuesday at 8:30 on the Vinyl Vault on KUVO JAZZ.

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