Oran Etkin

Kelenia

(Motema Music; US: 9 Jun 2009)

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In the last few years, whether a result of the Internet, globalization, or some vague creative itch, the search for new music and new musical inspiration has seemingly reached a fever pitch. One result of this search has been a slew of releases that merge jazz with traditional African music. Occidental Brothers Dance International Band, NOMO, and Zap Mama are just three of the many artists who have, for the most part, successfully combined the rhythms and folk melodies of Africa with the free form aesthetic and blues sound evocative of the jazz idiom. Now with his debut recording, Kelenia, Israeli-born reedist Oran Etkin throws his hat into the ring.

Compared to his peers, Etkin’s variation on the jazz-meets-Africa mixture is more jazz-heavy, with fewer repetitive riffs and sing-along choruses. Most of the tracks on Kelenia are slower, downtempo affairs with traditional African instruments providing a foundation from which Etkin offers bluesy saxophone solos and melodies. Etkin, who has spent time in West Africa absorbing the music and culture, is joined by a stellar cast of African-born musicians, including guitarist Lionel Loueke, balafonist Balla Kouyate, and percussionist Makane Kouyate. None of the tracks on Kelenia stands out, but the musicianship and players’ ability to convey intense emotion is first-rate across the entire album. Etkin’s clarinet tone adds a klezmer or Middle Eastern tint to this enjoyable set, especially on tracks like “Yekeke” and “Nina”. And Etkin’s saxophone playing, which he learned from Dave Liebman and Yusef Lateef, among others, is warm and sinewy, especially on a great version of Duke Ellington’s classic “It Don’t Mean a Thing” and the very bluesy “Damonzon”.

Kelenia is highly recommended for proponents of the genre and should serve as an excellent gateway drug for fans of mainstream jazz, lounge, and world music.

—Michael Kabran

Christian McBride and Inside Straight

Kind of Brown

(Mack Avenue; US: 16 Jun 2009; UK: 27 Jul 2009)

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Bassist Christian McBride and his quintet Inside Straight have a traditional allusion in both their group name and album title. While that fact may reflect on the music’s accessibility and place in straightforward jazz lineages, it doesn’t mean there’s anything stale and stodgy on Kind of Brown. The disc contains the swinging side of McBride’s work, incorporating some hard bop influences (aided by Carl Allen’s drumming). The songs bounce along, and while McBride’s playing never disappoints, he leaves room for his bandmates, and it’s a tight outfit. The music may be straight-ahead, but it’s not starchy; cuts like “Used ‘Ta Could” emphasize the light-hearted pleasure available. One of the better surprises here is the unveiling of Warren Wolf, Jr. on vibes. McBride’s former student holds his own here, showing not only flash but also a strong ability to integrate his playing with the vets surrounding him. While Kind of Brown resists stylistic novelty, it does provide a highly entertaining way to revisit that old Blue Note sound while taking in something fresh.

—Justin Cober-Lake

Dan Zimmerman

Cosmic Patriot

(Sounds Familyre; US: 7 Apr 2009; UK: Import)

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“All this technology,” Dan Zimmerman proclaims on Cosmic Patriot, “is useless when you’ve lost your technique”. An it’s appropriate that Zimmerman, with his son-of-a-preacher pedigree art-school gypsy past, is the one to make this point. In fact, it’s hard to imagine an artist like Dan Zimmerman in this hyper-tech-centric age outside of maybe your local organic coffee shop or between stacks of hardcovers at Barnes and Noble. Dan’s steady baritone and measured wit is almost more potent as our traditional idea of a singer/songwriter wanes with each succeeding tweet.

You see, Dan Zimmerman doesn’t need a blog to confirm his abilities. The artist transcends the modern ephemera to make something that has been referred to in the recent past as ‘folk music’. The title track “Cosmic Patriot” and “Everyday in My Heart” add to the notion that Dan’s music transcends the static idea of pop songs an act more as an installment—something to meditate on rather than just listen to and discard. Dan Zimmerman’s music probably won’t be lighting up the web anytime soon. But then again, will anyone remember Black Kids in 10 years.

—Joe Tacopino

The Mystery Girls

Incontinopia

(In the Red; US: 18 Nov 2008; UK: 24 Nov 2008)

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If a question mark hangs over the Mystery Girls it’s because this Wisconsin quintet of wiry white (non-effeminate) boys has yet to come out of the garage. Since 2002 they have released two LPs and a handful of singles, yet a Google search on them produces only two relevant results and no recognition from Wikipedia. Perhaps their closeted status hinges on them smelling like a hackneyed bluesy garage rock band destined to play the pub and college circuit forever. Their head-banging, abandoned guitar-riffing, hi-hat-abusing pedestrian angst certainly screams for little else. So does the adolescence of lead singer Casey Grajek’s scratchy threadbare yowls. But their third effort Incontinopia starts off well enough. It is opened by an anodyne ice-cream-truck intro, which scratches into “Oh! Apollo”, a pleasant piece of jangle pop that sounds like it’s been baked under the Californian sun with the Byrds standing watch. Grajek’s reverb-tinged register is then put to good use in “The Magic Is Gone” as he wails and quivers listlessly over a bed of bluesy organ riffs. Unfortunately this middling mash-up of retro rock descends into an aimless smash-up-your-guitar orgy, a sonic rump of what could only be an alcoholic binge. Perhaps the garage is where the Girls belong after all.

—Estella Hung

Blaq Poet

Tha Blaqprint

(Year Round; US: 30 Jun 2009; UK: 27 Jul 2009)

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Tha Blaqprint is one of those albums that you really want to love. Blaq Poet, an underground staple to some and a fresh face to others, is an emcee capable of holding your interest even as he spits that grimy street-talk we have all heard before. And complementing Blaq’s tenacity is none other than DJ Premier. Yes, that DJ Premier. On paper and based off his past work, one would think that no one could be better suited for this project than Premo. But on Tha Blaqprint, for which he produced 13 of the 15 tracks, Premo’s production sounds dated and recycled.

It’s a shame, too, because Tha Blaqprint gets off to a promising start with “I-Gititin”, “U Phucc’d Up”, “Ain’t Nuttin Changed”, and “What’s the Deal?”. Across those tracks, Blaq spits grimy street-talk that might not inspire, but it certainly holds your attention. And Premo showcases some of his old tricks, especially on “Ain’t Nuttin Changed”, which offers a blend of a guitar-lick and strings with those signature boom-bap drums and scratched-up hook.

But everything begins to unravel as tracks like “Hood Crazy” and “Sichuwayshunz” play, both decent songs on any other record. On here, though, they are more of the same. And mostly to blame is Premo, whose repetitive and paint-by-numbers beats cause the album to hit a wall of sorts. It’s at this point when the The Blaqprint ends up a lot like listening to a Gang Starr album with all the nostalgia removed. Premier might have been at the top of his game during that era and many of his beats were nothing short of stellar. But Guru, on the other hand, was not always the most competent emcee. And his monotone delivery, though a worthy trademark, made his rhymes tedious on some tracks. This time around, though, it’s the production that fails to grab you. Blaq and Premo could have easily removed three or four tracks from here truly had something special, if not more enjoyable. Instead, you have a record with a strong first-half and a spotty ending.

—Andrew Martin

Snooks Eaglin

Baby, You Can Get Your Gun!

(Hep Cat; US: 21 Apr 2009; UK: 18 May 2009)

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When Snooks Eaglin was led into the Southlake Studios down in Louisiana to cut his first album, 1987’s Baby, You Can Get Your Gun! for Black Top, the blind guitarist, affectionately known as the “Human Jukebox” for his ability to recall a reputed 2,500 songs covering everything from jazz standards to R&B hits instantaneously, was all but retired from the business.  That October ‘86 session, however, the start of a five-album run with the New Orleans label, would resurrect Eaglin’s solo career—a career first documented on tape by folklorist Harry Oster in 1958 when the academic discovered the Crescent City native playing country blues on the streets of the French Quarter for tourists.

Now posthumously reissued by Hep Cat, Baby, You Can Get Your Gun! reminds you just how damn good a guitarist Eaglin was. Backed by a stellar line-up including former B.B. King keyboardist Ron Levy, David Lastie on tenor sax and a rhythm section of Joe “Smokey” Johnson on drums and Erving Charles Jr. on bass, lifted directly from Fats Domino’s orchestra, Eaglin’s Ray Charles-style vocal lilt, explosive snakin’ guitar runs and innovative finger-picking style wander an eclectic path that bops with the blues on “You Give Me Nothing But the Blues”, goes surfing with a flamenco flourish on the Ventures tribute “Profidia” and gets low-down and funky on the James Brown-influenced “Drop the Bomb”. Say hello to a rarely heard classic.

—Alan Brown

Mia Doi Todd (with Andres Renteria)

Morning Music

(City Zen; US: 14 Apr 2009; UK: 13 Apr 2009)

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Mia Doi Todd is known for her quiet, haunting songs, and the most haunting part of these is her voice. On Morning Music, she leaves that element behind as she creates an instrumental ambient experience unlike the rest of her catalog. Morning Music is a lovely and aptly named collection of music to help even the weariest bodies to awaken quietly. Todd’s voice is not as missed as one would think; the music is sheerly hypnotic on its own.

The album’s seven tracks open with “Harmonium”, an unsurprisingly organ-centered affair. The organ carries over into “Arise”, though the piano takes center stage in this song. “Samai’I”, brings the album into full bloom with a more percussive song that also features a reed flute. “Electrafficbirds One” is a slow piano song that could hold its own alongside a solo piano piece by Philip Glass or any other minimalist master. The same is true of “Simple Things,” which brings back the harmonium and features a deliciously watery piano line, blurred ever so slightly for the most relaxing sound. The quiet flute and harp that open “Emotion” are the album’s most New Age-moment, but this song is still pretty and the slightly schmaltzy sound can be forgiven in context of the other tracks which are more original. Finally, the album closes with “Electrafficbirds Two”, still piano-centered but also featuring a reed flute and bird sounds more prominent than elsewhere on the album.

Morning Music is a gorgeous, softly stirring work of art that maximizes its minimal elements. Andres Renteria, the multi-instrumentalist who executes much of this album, deserves special credit for adding a perfectly light touch to the work. It would be right at home among prepared piano auteur Hauschka’s best work, though it’s even more charming to know Mia Doi Todd spearheaded its creation.

—Erin Lyndal Martin

Oddateee

Halfway Homeless

(Deadverse; US: 8 Nov 2008; UK: Import)

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From listening to Halfway Homeless, you would think rapper Oddateee’s homebase of Union City, New Jersey was a city manifested in the spirit of the South Bronx albeit reconfigured to fit some kind of Timothy Leary-esque vision of a hallucinogenic hip-hop utopia. As producer Dalek keeps the pace of the beats at a surreal and trippy pace with fuzzed out riddims and squalls of noise akin to a crunked-out Sonic Youth, Oddateee harbors lofty aspirations of achieving commercial success , as tracks like “Crack Rock” and the electro-fied “Ricans”. This push-pull duality makes for some very interesting moments on Halfway Homeless, which might not offer any direct threats to the Black Eyed Peas’ reign on the charts anytime soon, but can relish in its unique stance amongst the most original recordings hip-hop has seen in recent memory.

—Ron Hart