There’s a genre of music called ‘fusion’. It’s what you get when molten rock dissolves in liquid jazz. But there’s another way to combine rock and jazz – you can just bolt them together. Take Marbin, for example. Their stock-in-trade is a frothy layer of jazz firmly anchored to a solid base of rock. This tune from their 2016 album, Goatman and the House of the Dead, is typical.

Marbin was formed in 2007 when two Israeli musicians teamed up: saxophonist Danny Markovitch and guitarist Dani Rabin. The band name, of course, is just the first and last syllables of their surnames glued together. After moving to the U.S. and gigging extensively they released their first album, Marbin, in 2009. Since then they have added another six studio albums and one live album to their repertoire.

Both halves of the duo are virtuoso musicians. Everything they do exudes the skill of a consummate artist and the sophisticated talents of an old master. The various rhythm sections they have used over the years have not been too shabby, either. Crotchety’s only complaint is that they can get a little too frantic at times.

Left to Right: Danny Markovitch (saxophone), Everette Benton Jr. (drums), Dani Rabin (guitar), Jon Nadel (bass)

If you’re not sure whether you prefer your fusion in fluid form or concrete-and-steel solid, then check out Marbin‘s “name your price” sampler on their bandcamp page. And don’t confuse Marbin with the paranoid android; while a morose Marvin is sulking quietly at the other end of the universe, Marbin are living it up in an irrepressible celebration of life, and everything, right here.