Iconoclastic and prolific jazz-rock guitarist David ‘Fuze’ Fiuczynski, a jazz player who “doesn’t want to play just jazz”, has been hailed by the world press as an incredibly inventive guitar hero, who continues to deliver with music that is unclassifiable, challenging and invigorating. An innovative musician who has released eight CD’s and a double live DVD, Fuze is best known as the leader of the Screaming Headless Torsos.
In 1994 David, in collaboration with keyboardist John Medeski of Medeski Martin & Wood, woke up the sleeping jazz fusion world with a landmark CD, Lunar Crush chosen by Guitar Player’s 30th Anniversary Edition as a “Disc of Destiny” – in Guitar Player’s estimation, one of the most influential albums of the last thirty years. A funky, freaky party, Lunar Crush was a wild 90’s tribute to Tony William’s groundbreaking early-fusion band “Lifetime”. Fuze’s signature palette of otherworldly guitar sounds and enormous chops received astonished accolades from critics and fans alike and landed him on the cover of Guitar Player as a trailblazer who could “change the way you play!” In 1994 David became the original guitar player in Meshell NdegéOcello’s debut band and is prominently featured on her first two Grammy-nominated CD’s.
Fuze’s recordings are an experimental mix of tradition with modern sounds and rhythms, a melange of funk-rock jazz, ambient textural improvisations, world-music elements, metal, reggae, house, dub, drum&bass and other new grooves topped with Fuze's unique writing, extraordinary soundscapes and passionate soloing. In response to the less than supportive environment for his unusual and uncompromising music in the corporate recording industry, David started a record label, FuzeLicious Morsels, to release his own recordings, with a current catalog of seven CD’s and the live DVD. The first CD, “JazzPunk”, was released to great critical acclaim in 1999. A recording of standards and covers written by Fuze’s idols and mentors, each tune was reworked in Fuze’s distinctive musical combinations. His 2000 CD, “Amandala” by Headless Torsos, is an instrumental continuation of Screaming Headless Torsos. Other releases are “Black Cherry Acid Lab", a mixture of funk-rock, rap and punk with vocalist Ahmed Best and saxophonsist Mark Shim, and “KiF”, a world-funk-jazz group featuring electric five-string cellist Rufus Cappadocia, both released in June 2003. Fuze will shortly be releasing another KiF CD, which will be a continuation of his interest in blending Eastern sounds with Western grooves; and a David Fiuczynski guitar instructional DVD.
In addition to being a prolific writer, arranger and bandleader, David has recorded and performed with some of the highest profile jazz artists working today. Fuze has appeared on over 95 albums by other artists, toured extensively with many of them, and with his own and other groups, has been featured at most of the world’s major jazz festivals. A full list of David’s musical career highlights follows.
