Like most things in 2020, the concept of contemporary jazz keyboardist Patrick Bradley’s fifth album took a dramatic turn when the pandemic hit and racial strife erupted. Although ideas for the eleven-song set were already sketched out, when he and producer Darren Rahn wrote the uplifting title track, “Exhale,” the composition seemed to encapsulate exactly what Bradley was feeling and believes that we are all in need of: expel the fear, worry and division gripping the nation and inhale unifying hope and peace.

Bradley recorded “Exhale” during quarantine without ever being in the studio with Rahn, who produced nine tracks for the project, or GRAMMY winner Jeff Lorber, who produced a pair of tunes. The “Exhale” album is a contemporary jazz amalgam constructed of jazz fusion, rock, R&B, blues, funk, and pop. The melodies are lush and indelible, fragrantly blossoming amidst soulful grooves. The fusion excursions stretch beyond and across borders. The production deftly melds the warm organics of live instrumentation and the modernity of synthesized sonics.

Prepare for a groove-a-thon of trilingual takeoff via Southern California-native Bradley’s Hammond B3 organ, Moog synthesizer, and electric piano stylings that coolly cross rock, jazz, and R&B with fiery, funky mastery…and purpose.