Recorded during a three-day improvisation marathon at Flki Studios on Iceland’s remote Trllaskagi Peninsula, Future Forecast captures jazz fusion at its most spontaneous and elemental. Icelandic keyboardist Jakob Magnssona television producer, environmental activist, and Stumenn co-founderassembled Weather Report’s Peter Erskine on drums and Matthew Garrison (son of legendary bassist Jimmy Garrison) to create 72 tracks of pure improvisation, edited down to seven seamless compositions that reviewers praised for not sounding like anything else on the musical landscape today.

The album’s title nods to Magnsson’s environmental work, including developing weather control technology for music festivalsa fitting metaphor for music that shifts between atmospheric calm and thunderous intensity. Erskine, whose credentials span Weather Report to Steely Dan, called the sessions a rekindling of his passion for creating and recording new music. Garrison’s bass work channels the same harmonic sophistication his father brought to John Coltrane’s classic quartet, updated for contemporary fusion contexts.

Future Forecast sits comfortably alongside the jazz-fusion explorations of Miles Davis’s Bitches Brew era and Joe Zawinul’s most adventurous compositionsmusic that rewards deep listening while maintaining the groove sensibility that connects to funk and soul traditions. For listeners who appreciate Robert Walter, John Medeski, and the improvisational depth of the jam scene’s keyboard masters, this Iceland-born project offers fresh territory to explore.

LP Vinyl. Released June 2024 via Flki Studios. Features Peter Erskine, Matthew Garrison. Recorded in northern Iceland.