MUSIC REVIEW BY Thierry De Clemensat, Paris-Move
If you were a teenager when Santana's Amigos or Europa came out in 1976, Bobby Rozario's Healer will strike a deeply familiar chord, the same surge of energy, the same feverish Latin pulse that once set the air on fire. But here, there's something else woven into the fabric, a dose of jazz fusion, a whisper of African soul. Rozario's sound is shaped by his dual Indian and Brazilian heritage, which seems to guide him toward a musical language of perpetual celebration, a party that never really ends. The result feels like one of those pre-1980s albums that produced multiple Billboard hits week after week, when the charts still carried some soul and surprise, before today's industrial, dollar-fueled pop machine took over, all beat, no heart.
On Healer, every track feels carefully built, every intro and outro sculpted with intention. The production is lush, almost cinematic, and the attention to detail recalls an era when musicianship mattered more than metrics. A third-generation New York guitarist, Rozario was schooled in Hindustani classical music by his parents while immersing himself in the colors of jazz and blues. His guitar voice, fiery, lyrical, unmistakably his own, translates the melodic contours of ragas into a rhythmic world infused with Afro-Latin, rock, and jazz-fusion dialects. Both of his albums to date have been vast collaborative projects, bringing together an international roster of musicians and singers, each contributing a distinct accent, resulting in joyous, sonically radiant works. Healer continues that journey, centered on themes of unity and healing, where the collective experience of the players gives rise to music that breathes hope and connection.
And this album is no exception, Healer boasts an impressive list of contributors, none of whom are here just for show. It took several listens to catch all the nuances, the interplay between percussion and horn lines, the subtle shifts in harmony, the layers of rhythm that emerge and dissolve like colors in motion. This is music meant to be lived in, not merely heard.
In an era when such luminous productions have become rare, except perhaps on the live stage, Healer feels like a rediscovery. For older listeners, it will stir a gentle nostalgia for a time when fusion was fresh, daring, and spiritually charged. For younger ears, it may feel like a revelation, proof that this kind of vibrant, groove-driven, deeply human music still has a place today. It's music that invites both the body and the spirit to dance.
After all, Rozario's lineage is as extraordinary as his sound: his mother was a classical and semi-classical Indian vocalist; his father, a drummer; his great-grandfather, a bandmaster in the Brazilian Navy. A cultural and musical lineage that converges, here, in something luminous and alive, a joyful discovery indeed.
On Healer, every track feels carefully built, every intro and outro sculpted with intention. The production is lush, almost cinematic, and the attention to detail recalls an era when musicianship mattered more than metrics. A third-generation New York guitarist, Rozario was schooled in Hindustani classical music by his parents while immersing himself in the colors of jazz and blues. His guitar voice, fiery, lyrical, unmistakably his own, translates the melodic contours of ragas into a rhythmic world infused with Afro-Latin, rock, and jazz-fusion dialects. Both of his albums to date have been vast collaborative projects, bringing together an international roster of musicians and singers, each contributing a distinct accent, resulting in joyous, sonically radiant works. Healer continues that journey, centered on themes of unity and healing, where the collective experience of the players gives rise to music that breathes hope and connection.
And this album is no exception, Healer boasts an impressive list of contributors, none of whom are here just for show. It took several listens to catch all the nuances, the interplay between percussion and horn lines, the subtle shifts in harmony, the layers of rhythm that emerge and dissolve like colors in motion. This is music meant to be lived in, not merely heard.
In an era when such luminous productions have become rare, except perhaps on the live stage, Healer feels like a rediscovery. For older listeners, it will stir a gentle nostalgia for a time when fusion was fresh, daring, and spiritually charged. For younger ears, it may feel like a revelation, proof that this kind of vibrant, groove-driven, deeply human music still has a place today. It's music that invites both the body and the spirit to dance.
After all, Rozario's lineage is as extraordinary as his sound: his mother was a classical and semi-classical Indian vocalist; his father, a drummer; his great-grandfather, a bandmaster in the Brazilian Navy. A cultural and musical lineage that converges, here, in something luminous and alive, a joyful discovery indeed.