AFRO ROCK AND AFROBEAT ABOUND

Steele Beautttah: Africa
From VA: Afro Rock, Vol. 1 (Strut, 2010)

March 16th will see the reissue of a previously out-of-print compilation (originally issued by indie Kona) highlighting African funk and soul. Its original issue helped to spark a surge to mine music from the Motherland. One song by Jingo (“Fever”) will at least sound familiar if you've seen “The Last King Of Scotland.”

Steele Beautttah's “Africa” provides an excellent example of the general feel of the album. In an ode to his home continent, Beautttah takes pride in singing praise to Africa. A funky flute loop accompanies the singer in the chorus. Three-fourths into the song a guitar solo pops up before we're lead to the song's exit through the chorus once again.

The album bounces around to different countries – Zaire, Kenya, and Nigeria – to provide a crash course in Africa's brand of soul. While these countries each have their own distinct culture, they are linked together by a similar course in rhythm and tempo. Get a bonus track by the Latapaza Band that isn't featured on the album from Strut. Act now, before it's taken down!



Dan Satch And His Atomic 8 Dance Band: Woman Pin Down
From VA: Black Man's Cry: The Inspiration Of Fela Kuti (Now Again, 2010)

To be clear, this CD/LP is not a collection of work by famed Nigerian Fela Kuti (as I thought it would be when I first saw that it was being issued). What it is, however, is a collection of songs of artists who were inspired by his work and message. Guess I should have taken the “inspiration of” part of the title a little more to heart.

The latter fifth of the album collects a few recent pieces that pay tribute to Fela. Two have been released within the last 18 months and feature Jay Whitefield through 2 musical projects he's been involved with: The Whitefield Brothers and Karl Hector & The Malcouns.

Throughout the rest of the album is older material from the likes of Bola Johnson, Jerry Hansen, and Dan Satch & His Atomic 8 Dance Band. The Satch track is classic Afrobeat with its conga-laden background. The lead vocals are geared more toward message than to wow you with range. The same can be said for Johnson's “Hot Pants,” in which he sings in both English and Yoruba. It's almost a patois, of sorts, of African language. “Hot Pants” tempo is similar to the Satch number, which could explain their order back-to-backon the disc.

The overall design of the packaging is quite nice (I have the CD copy) with its book-like cover and binding. My only complaint is that the disc was hard to get out from the tight sleeve. I didn't want to stretch the sleeve, but at the same time I nearly had to just to get the disc out. It's a small misfire in an otherwise exemplary showcase for music and knowledge as afforded us by the extensive liner notes contained within.

IN THE HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN

Now and again, you come across an album so good that you just can't get it off repeat. From the opening to closing notes, I was spellbound in between. The opening track, “Awakening,” is peaceful and reminds me of the first time I heard Lonnie Liston Smith's Garden Of Peace. My mind and heart had been kidnapped - thrown into a trunk and I was going wherever this band steered me for the next hour or so.

“Awakening” is what you hear and feel in those groggy moments before your eyes pop open. It captures the sounds of wherever we go in Dreamland and is the reveille that beckons us back to reality. That last held note is like the morning stretch that says, “You're up and you're ready to go!” which leads you to...

The Souljazz Orchestra: Agbara
From Rising Sun (Strut, 2010)

this shot of musical caffeine. Skip the morning coffee and throw this into your music player of choice. If you aren't able to get through the drudgery of the morning with this playing in the background, then don't even bother with the rest or your day. Musically, it hearkens to the Latin classic
“Tiger of San Pedro” as performed by Bill Watrous. It bounces with verve with its marimba-laden background, and those horns... MY GOD!

The rest of the album follows along the same lineage, closing out with a two-part cover of Pharoah Sanders' “Rejoice” suite with first part being more meditative and the second part being more rhytmic and lively.

You can check more out clips over at the official release page. With roots in Ethio-jazz, Afrobeat, Latin, and soul, the band shows they are capable of astounding range, which is no small task. More importantly, though, they accomplish it with a fortitude and semblance of musicality that allows them to be original while still honoring those who inspired them.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is the first must-have release of 2010, and it comes your way February 16th.

SOUNDS FROM ALL AROUND

Whitefield Brothers featuring Mr. Lif and Edan: The Gift + Taisho
From Earthology (Now Again, 2009)

Music just wouldn't be as fun without the Whitefield Brothers around. Sure, they aren't as well-known as they should be, but they consistently provide quality and they rarely stay in one place too long musically speaking.

We heard their take on thunderous funk in the mid-90s long before it was en vogue to do so. I'm talking pre-Numero and pre-Daptone. With as much respect I have for the Dap Kings, I'd still take “Augusta Georgia” and “Practice What You Preach” by the Whitefield gang in their multitude of band names over anything I've heard from SJ + DK. That's not to say SJ + DK don't deserve the praise they get; the WB just funk out even harder.

After a short stint with a little discofied funk as Syrup, they started going in a different direction with “In The Raw” on Soul Fire by adding more of an African tinge to their music. By 2008, they had advanced that sound even further with the Karl Hector And The Malcouns project. Now, we get their most diversified sound with “Earthology,” entitled so, at my best guess, as a study of the music from around the globe. This is true World Music.

Songs with an unfamiliar time signature like “Pamukkale” make sense within the frame of the album, although you might be thrown off if just heard by itself. The Eastern sounds of “Taisho” hit you right away before going off into a menacing bass groove. “Ntu” explores a variety of percussion, though not of your standard drum kit. Rap even makes its way on to the record by underground sensations Edan and Mr. Lif on “The Gift” over one of the more straightforward rhythms on the album.

It was interesting to note the copyright date on the back of my promo copy as 2008. While I don't know why it has set on shelf for so long (unless it the year was a misprint), it works well for continuing their legacy as well as that of Stones Throw/Now Again. The front cover calls it a World-Psych Masterpiece, a fitting description for an album that pulls its influences from all over. Left to lesser talent, both by the band and co-executive producer Egon, it might sound disjointed. Under their careful watch, though, we're treated to an exquisite album of sounds and textures. It's available digitally now from Stone's Throw online web store, and hits the racks in January everywhere else.

OF TRUTH AND SOUL

Ghetto Brothers: The Ghetto Brothers Power
From The Ghetto Brothers Power/I Saw A Tear 7” (Truth And Soul, 2009)

Truth And Soul has put out its fair share of excellent releases already this year. A couple of them have paid homage to yesteryear's stars (Isaac Hayes and the Wu-Tang Clan) and others have been just as soulful in their own right such as the recent Lee Fields album, “My World.”

Sometimes, though, things come in smaller doses just to give you that quick fix. The Ghetto Brothers 45 shows 2 sides of the band – a tender, if somewhat uninspired ballad in “I Saw A Tear,” with the hook sounding a bit like Stevie's “I Never Dreamed You'd Leave In Summer” – and an uptempo, unabashed street party that was somehow written into wax grooves.

Right from the start, you get that early '70s guitar workout just before the bassist gets in on the act. Where the B-side relies too much on the technical ability to sing, the A-side uses a mean set of congas with the aforementioned bass riff to build a foundation upon which the singers can complement with an energetic performance that doesn't try to be more than what it is or needs.

Michael Leonhart And The Avramina 7: Gold Fever
From Scopolomine/Gold Fever 7” (Truth And Soul, 2009)

Michael Leonhart and the Avramina 7 have come together after various band members have been involved in numerous other projects in the soul and groove revival guild such as El Michels Affair, Antibalas, The Dap Kings, and the Phenomenal Handclap Band.

On this 45, the b-side features an afro-funk styled jam called “Gold Fever.” The only words are the hook in its chant of which I can't fully understand all the words outside of the title and “thousand eyes watching you.” During the rest of the song, they let their playing do the talking, and there's no mistaking what they're saying: Get off your ass and jam!

YOU HAVE BEEN INFORMED

Jimi Tenor And Tony Allen: Sinuhe
From Inspiration Information Vol. 4 (Strut, 2009)

On October 27, Strut Records is releasing the fourth volume in its Inspiration Information series this time pairing up Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen, who backed Fela Kuti's band in the '70s, with Finnish music mastermind Jimi Tenor, who among other projects also has some Afro-music based history with his band Kabu Kabu. The pair have quite big shoes to fill. NPR's Bob Boilen declared in May that its predecessor featuring Mulatu Astatke and The Heliocentrics' Volume 3 the best jazz album he had heard thus far in 2009.

On this set where one of the participants also hails from Africa, the shift is not on Ethio-jazz, but on more traditional Afrobeat. On “Sinuhe,” you have a funky bass riff in a mostly instrumental effort with an almost call-and-response feature with the backing “Oh yeah!” chants. The horns that sprinkle over the top elevate the dynamic even more.

The opener “Against The Wall” features MC Allonymous in a spoken word, almost proto rap, while adding in a sing-songy flow for a hook where he croons he wants to “do it dancehall style.” Midway through the album, the MC appears again on “Path To Wisdom” and nods to the Oval Office chief talking about a “change we can believe in” welcoming us “to the dawn.” Meanwhile the saxophonist goes for broke on an exhilarating solo at the end of the song.

Volume 4 is a more than worthy follow-up to the Astatke/Heliocentrics effort. Tony Allen shows why he was such a force with the Africa 70 band with the various rhythms he employs. Tenor complements him well with his homemade instruments and melodies. Each show why they are masters of their craft on this solid album.