I haven’t heard Kenso, but their description isnt far off from what came to my mind at first. which was japanese fusion band Casiopea, and they also have way more cheesy synths (bless Cory for his minimal use of those).

But what strikes me about Cory’s tunes as a band leader is how much his tunes often resemble music like TV theme songs and jingles moreso than typical jazz fusion. Lots of major chords, a focus on melody over improvisation. That used to be a big commercial area for composers but jingles are not really an in demand thing these days. people with a talent for those kinds of songs gotta go somewhere. I have had “bluebird” stuck in my head all weekend. the super fast version in this vid is great:?si=hg0gMJnjSored7C9

I dont find the fearless flyers to have as much “catchiness” as solo Cory but the appeal there is just four total pros doing their thing in as compact and tight a form as possible. I think I’m going to dub this genre “stank face music”, because when it’s at its best thats the face i’m making.

Another fun little track, and one that led me into listening to Vulfpeck was that Cory Wong has a “Self-titled” song (like “Bo Diddly” another guitar player who liked to go “wakka wakka” a lot), which is a pretty nice statement of purpose from the band.

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Vulfpeck are pretty interesting actually. They’re hard to pin down cus instead of a single lead vocalist they rotate though a series of guests and songwriting styles, they often include odd vocal effects or quirky semi-instrumental half-songs. songwriting is sometimes good and sometimes not so good. Their main unifyiing element seems to be Bass player Joe Dart who is incredible. Put this guy right up there with your Les Claypool, Jaco Pastorius, Flea, whoever else you want to name. (the Jaco comparison is directly alluded to on the “Teen Town” semi-cover “Dean Town”) Even when the songs are just OK this guy carries it. add in Cory doing his wakka wakka wakka thing and that’s a hell of a distinctive rhythm section.

I thought 2016’s The Beautiful Game was their best record of the several I’ve heard so far. But their Live at MSG live record pretty much covers all their best songs and shows off their oddball live show too. ?si=bb5FoWdqZwL2wIZ0

Another big plus I gotta give this collective of artists: so many short albums! there are some longer ones in there, but so many of these are in the 30-minute range. the Fearless Flyers albums are even all under 30 minutes!