Fourth album from the free-spirited power trio that should need no long introduction by now, apart from the significant fact that Frank Rosaly has taken over the drum stool from Paal Nilssen-Love. No mean feat, seeing how the hand-in-glove rhythm section of Nilssen-Love and Håker Flaten has graced a large number of recordings over the years and built a solid reputation as one of modern jazz and improv's most reliable units. That said, the Chicago-based drummer is doing a remarkable job in both keeping the group sound intact while bringing new blood to the proceedings. As with the previous albums, Melaza was recorded live in the studio with a minimum of overdubs, this time by Robert Mussi at Bill Laswell's New York studio. Raoul Björkenheim is from Finland and he recorded for ECM as a member of Finnish pioneers Krakatau as well as with Bill Laswell, Henry Kaiser, Jah Wobble, Peter Erskine, Paul Schütze, Mats Gustafsson, Nicky Skopelitis, and others. He has also written film scores and orchestral music. Norwegian Ingebrigt Håker Flaten is a member of The Thing, Atomic, School Days, Free Fall with Ken Vandermark and has his own quintet. He has toured with Trygve Seim, Joe McPhee, Chris Potter, Dave Liebman, Tony Oxley and many others. Drummer and composer Frank Rosaly has been an integral part of the Chicago music scene for 10 years, navigating between the improv, experimental, rock and jazz communities. As with the other Scorch Trio albums, all titles are local slang-words: this time, it's Puerto Rican, with the album title translating as "pure sugar cane juice, something sweet, fantastic." Members: Raoul Björkenheim (guitar), Ingebrigt Håker Flaten (bass), and Frank Rosaly (drums).
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