French Bassist Bunny (Bernard) Brunel in 3 (Touch 1979, Ivanhoe 1983, Momentum 1989) by request

 

Information databased here on discogs. 

In 1979 he created what is for me one of the standout masterpiece of progressive fusion from France, an album called Touch.   Note that earlier in the seventies he teamed up with Didier Lockwood and his bro Francis (plus Patrick Gauthier on keys) for the one-off album Jazz-Rock (1976) which is stunning too. And in the next year, played with Didier again in the wonderful Surya. Prior to these he also played in Tony Williams' Lifetime, another brilliant outfit. Anyways back to Touch. 

I rank this as one of the best albums in the style from that country, along with the Lockwoods (posted before), the amazing Cokelaere work, Transit Express, Potemkin, we can't forget Xalph, and then the masterpiece from Jean-Louis Bucchi, Sunflower (1978), but it sounds most like the 80s albums, so gently emotional and brilliantly original, from Joel Dugrenot: Boomerang, See, Mosaiques. There are many others I forget to mention.

Consider Little Green Girl:

Or Nova:

The emotional context is what I find so entrancing.

Unfortunately (for me), the follow up Ivanhoe reverts back to contemporary jazz styles and eschews the lovely fusion, a representative track would be Dede:

(This is not the same situation as for Pyramids and Birds of the Night from Eef Albers, wherein stunningly beautiful compositions appear post-1980 as evidenced by the post here. But I guess that was for sure a rarity.)

From 1989, Brunel's Momentum moves even further into the direction of tinny-keyboards / smooth slapped 80s bass fusion, typical of the times. I find the sound of the keys especially annoying, compared to the 60s majesty of hammonds and spacey dreaminess of the Fender Rhodes. However a small touch of the earlier emotionally adept well-crafted fusion style remains, in Again:

I have Touch in lossless, the other 2 in mp3... more requests up shortly