Special EFX

Combining Latin and African rhythms with the light textures of MOR jazz, Special EFX emerged as one of the most prominent world fusion groups of their era. The group took shape in New York in 1982 as essentially a duo of guitarist Chieli Minucci and Hungarian-born drummer/percussionist George Jinda. Their first release, Modern Manners, arrived in 1985, and they frequently brought in additional musicians to enrich their state-of-the-art sound, among them Dave Grusin, Omar Hakim, and McCoy Tyner.

Although the pair had long favored an accessible and slick jazz-pop sound, they made a decisive shift in identity on 1990's Just Like Magic by moving toward a more acoustic texture and replacing Jinda's electronic percussion with what he called "wooden world music."

Following the release of Body Language in 1995, Minucci and Jinda parted ways, after which Jinda kept working under the Special EFX name. Tragedy occurred in early 1997 when Jinda, who had just finished Here to Stay, suffered a massive stroke that left him in a coma from which he never emerged. He died in New York on January 11, 2001, at the age of 60.

Once Jinda was gone, Minucci, already established as a successful solo artist, chose to keep recording under the Special EFX name, sometimes billing projects as Chieli Minucci & Special EFX. The first album under the revived banner, Sweet Surrender, appeared in 2007 and found him exploring many of the group's earlier eclectic stylistic influences, from Latin to funk to fusion jazz. He then returned to solo projects with the atmospheric, new age-infused companion albums Travels (2008) and East of the Sun (2008).

Minucci issued the two-disc Without You in 2010. Two years later came The Genesis, which included contributions from several longtime Special EFX associates, among them percussionist Omar Hakim, saxophonist/flute player David Mann, and pianist Lao Tizer. In 2017 Minucci celebrated Special EFX's 35th Anniversary with Deep as the Night. The album featured guest appearances from Tizer along with violinist Antoine Silverman and saxophonist Elan Trotman.