Grooves
November 2006 By Christopher Porter
In Orbit Vol. 1
Xaymaca
The Skatalites helped usher in the modern age of Jamaican music in the early 1960s by mixing American R&B with jazz chops and funky rhythms with the island’s African-derived folk music. The musicians comprised the house band for Studio One, and they moonlighted...
November 2006 By Christopher Porter
Present Mudfoot Jones
Savoy
You may not have heard of the production team called the Basement Boys, but you’ve likely heard their work if you turned on the radio in the past 16 years. They’ve remixed Paula Abdul, Michael Jackson, Erykah Badu and they co-wrote Crystal Waters’ “Gypsy...
November 2006 By Christopher Porter
People People Music Music
Savoy
Groove Collective can’t decide if it wants to play funk, Latin or jazz on its first album in five years. While the band has always flitted between styles, its strength isn’t jazz, it’s funk. Too much of People People Music Music attempts to be the former...
November 2006 By Christopher Porter
The Exchange Session, Vol. 2
Domino
When Kieran Hebden and Steve Reid went into the studio to jam, it seemed like a mismatch. Hebden usually records under the name Four Tet, creating percussion-driven electronica based on samples, analog electronics and plenty of postproduction. While he’s...
November 2006 By Christopher Porter
Scale
Matthew Herbert is an ideologue. Like Lars von Trier did with his Dogme 95 rules for filmmaking, Herbert constructed the Personal Contract for the Composition of Music (Incorporating the Manifesto of Mistakes) in 2000. He doesn’t allow himself to use synthesizer...
November 2006 By Christopher Porter
New Tones
Ubiquity Jazz
NOMO—the band dem-ands all caps—is all about Fela Kuti. But unlike Brooklyn’s Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra, who seem like they’ve been beamed straight from Nigeria circa 1974, Michigan’s NOMO adds enough experimental jazz and various strains of West African...
November 2006 By Christopher Porter
Togetherness
Delanuca
While trombonist Rico Rodriguez left Jamaica for England just as ska was taking off, he’s always been seen as part of the musical foundation of the Caribbean’s second-most influential island. (All respect to Cuba.) Togetherness is a good-sounding live recording...
November 2006 By Christopher Porter
Café D’Afrique
Savoy
With the jazz demographic getting older and older, more and more mainstream labels are turning their attention to the dancefloor in order to capture younger ears. Savoy had already released a CD by the English dance-pop trio Saint Etienne, but Cafe D’Afrique...
November 2006 By Christopher Porter
Rebop: The Savoy Remixes
Savoy
Producers used to sample old jazz LPs on the fly and hope nobody noticed. Well, they did notice, and jazz labels started commissioning remix projects. It seems like the trend would have played itself out—and it pretty much has from an artistic standpoint—but...
September 2005 By Christopher Porter
Say It Loud!
Water
Lou Donaldson’s Alligator Bogaloo was such a big soul-jazz hit in 1967 that the formula was still set for this 1968 LP: Don’t do much harmonically—all five tracks are in blues-boogie mode, even standards like “Summertime” and “Caravan”—but do groove like...
