Spheres
December 2003 By Javier Quinones
Bembeya
World Village
The latest release from Guinean group Bembeya Jazz features its unique Afro-pop lineup of four guitars, three singers, traps, percussion, alto and tenor saxes and trumpet. Although they have entered their fifth decade, in Bembeya (World Village), they hit...
December 2003 By Javier Quinones
Taoué
Justin Time Records
Taoue (Justin Time) is an Abdoulaye N'Diaye release produced by David Murray. In one of the meatier portions of "Aduna," singer Tidiane Gaye flows Islamic-inflected Wolof vocalizations, after a remarkable kora improvisation, as the performance frees itself...
December 2003 By Javier Quinones
View from Afar
LMS
View From Afar (LMS), by the Larry Steen World Jazz Ensemble, is a Vulcan mind meld of dissimilar sonic backgrounds. The bassist and leader assumes the role of a musical fashion designer, with his own line of complex Western classical and jazz harmonic chordal...
December 2003 By Javier Quinones
Paradise in Trouble
Jazzheads Records
Paradise in Trouble (Jazzheads) is the third production of New York City trombonist Chris Washburne and the SYOTOS Band. Washburne is an academic ethnomusicologist acquainted with sounds from African villages, contemporary suburban funky pop, jazz and inner...
December 2003 By Javier Quinones
Live at Birdland
CAP
Gary Morgan & Panamericana's Live at Birdland (CAP) is a well recorded and mixed 1998 gig, thankfully released now with a solid sound. For this spirited release Morgan marshaled 20 musicians into a forceful, expressive and densely layered musical entity...
December 2003 By Javier Quinones
Luminescence
Sunnyside
Often times, tracing cultural rootage in musical matters becomes as good as a search for an onion's core. Peeling ethnicity and scholarly layers off the captivating beauty of Luminescence (Sunnyside), by accomplished pianist and accordionist Tino Derado...
December 2003 By Javier Quinones
Bajo Cero
Khaeon
On Bajo Cero (Khaeon), the tango nuevo accounts from pianist Pablo Ziegler, guitarist Enrique "Quique" Sinesi and bandoneon player Walter Castro are prominently attractive. Ziegler, who was Astor Piazzolla's pianist for 11 years, is a performer of considerable...
December 2003 By Javier Quinones
A New Life
OTA Records
A New Life (Ot), by Omar Sosa, is a piano interpretation of subjects such as Afro-Cuban spirituality and childhood remembrances stemming from the birth of his firstborn. Fatherhood does have an insightful interpreter in Sosa. He keeps the solo date moving...
July/August 2003 By Javier Quinones
Malicool
Sunnyside
Ever probing and self-demanding, Roswell Rudd fulfills an African dream of his in the Confluence Series title Malicool for Sunnyside. Malian kora master Toumani Diabate, in turn, adds an earthy harpesque character to Rudd's fulsome grittiness throughout...
July/August 2003 By Javier Quinones
Cuban Jazz: Alfredo Rodrîguez y Los Acereko
Naxos World
Credit Alfredo Rodriguez for leaving the Big Apple for the City of Light in 1985 after imprinting his tight, swingingly polyglot piano playing on New York's escalating Latin dance scene of the '60s and '70s. Since, his flourishing as a leader is a remarkable...
