(Full Album) War Stories: With Viinnie Colaiuta, Mike Stern, Victor Bailey and others..

"Powerful Stuff 4 1/2 stars"
Downbeat
J. Kimo Williams releases a remastering of his Jazz-Fusion Big-band Rock project titled War Stories featuring Jazz-Fusion instrumental music.
This is a remastered digital release and physical USB and Vinyl release of the first J. Kimo Williams Jazz-Fusion BigBand-Rock project that features instrumental music written for his Jazz Fusion ensemble, reflecting the memories of his tour as a soldier in the Vietnam War.
Instrumentalists have included Mike Stern, Michael Brecker, Victor Bailey, Tim Landers, Vinnie Colaiuta, Kenwood Dennard, Rob Williams, Alex Wurman, Rich Ruttenberg, Carol Williams; Jim Odgren, Orbert Davis, Hank Roberts, Michael Levine, Jamie Glaser, Richard Gibbs, Joe Pusateri, Kenwood Dennard, and many others.
Williams' music is complex yet accessible, offering listeners a raw fusion of Rock, Jazz, and Classical styles. His inspiration stems primarily from the 19th-century Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, who wrote music as a form of expression rather than a demonstration of virtuosity. War Stories, written after he graduated from Berklee College of Music and within the first few years of Williams' return from the war, is a testament to this technique.
Williams views his music as a photographic album, inviting listeners to visualize each piece as if looking through photographs in a photo album. Notable tracks include "Ton Raw," which opens with the sounds of war and a passing helicopter, and "Bleath," (with an introduction by Pulitzer Prize winner Studs Terkelwhich addresses innocent casualties of the war and features a powerful saxophone solo by Carol Williams.
www.jkimowilliams.com