Spare Parts are jazz in the sense that they play jazz chordings and can swing with authority but the more I listen to their self-titled new disc, the more I realize their sound and songs are more Parliament than, say, John Coltrane. With album number five Spare Parts, they are, indeed, on the verge of getting it on. Interestingly enough, I’m listening to it right now for the umpteenth time and I’m hearing something new, some little high-hat bit from drummer Mike Bruno. I like that. There is a precedent for jazz artists and composers to guest on Local Anesthetic, by the way. Spare Parts are not the first. Ken Vandermark was on 20-something years ago and more recently, Ramsey Lewis. Spare Parts don’t sound like either one of those acts, tho. Their sound actually harkens back to mid-late ’70′s “jazz fusion” from the likes of Return to Forever, Herbie Hancock, Weather Report, et al. Many of us swallowed that stuff right up, driving albums like Weather Reports Heavy Weather to gold sales and the top the jazz charts in 1977. That side even went top 30 on the pop charts. Multiple Grammy nominations ensued and Pastorius‘ “Teen Town” is still one of the baddest-ass songs of the genre and period (video below). The point is; music like that of Spare Parts used to be part of the pop landscape and their new tunes are so user friendly, it’s time to reintroduce you to the whole jazz-fusion thing as done up right by this Chicago trio. Spare Parts will be my guest on this week’s Local Anesthetic, Sunday night at 7:30 here on XRT.