The
Tony Allen entry for the
Jazz Is Dead label/series is on fire. Founded by composer/producer/retro-soul musician
Adrian Younge and hip-hop DJ/producer/rapper
Ali Shaheed Muhammad (
A Tribe Called Quest),
Jazz Is Dead creates a place for
Younge,
Muhammad, and other musicians to collaborate with the heroes of jazz, funk, and other forms of deep expression that inspired new generations of music-makers. As one of the inventors of Afrobeat,
Allen carved out a path for countless musicians to follow, and
JID018 is built on his steady polyrhythmic drumming and rock-solid grooves. The eight selections here follow a similar pattern, with up-front drums pushing along heavy repetitions of deep funk and Afrobeat. This repetition is anything but boring, however, as the playing is wide open, dynamic, and vibrantly expressive. Pieces like "Steady Tremble" and the staggered hop of "No End" create meditative states where dirty organ, hot horns, and simmering guitar lines can slink in and out of the picture. "Don't Believe the Dancers" enters more of a soul-jazz territory, with clusters of flute, spirited sax soloing, and marimba all frolicking joyously around
Allen's masterful but restrained work on the drum kit.
JID018 taps into some of the same sauntering Afrobeat energy that
Allen cultivated with
Fela Kuti and
Africa '70, but also explores new ideas with the dizzying rhythms and jazzy horn runs of "No Beginning" and the spartan funk of "Makoko." The sessions for
JID018 were tracked before
Allen's death in 2020, and knowing that it stands as some of his last studio work gives the project a bittersweetness. Even with this sad additional context,
JID018 is an absolutely simmering set, with one of Afrobeat's creators showing us how it's done once again. ~ Fred Thomas
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