EARWORTHY - new music - Brief Article

American Visions, Feb, 2000 by T. Brooks Shepard

It could a been the second song of the second set. I know it was the guitar bridge played by Papa Noel Nedule Montswet in the middle of a song called "Ghetto" that got the party started at a recent performance by Angolan-Congolese singer-composer Sam Mangwana at the Cambridge, Mass., House of Blues. Backed by guitar, bass guitar, percussion, accordion and two excellent vocalists, Mangwana achieved that mysteriously elusive, yet yearned-for synchronism: that magic and mystical moment when the artist, band and audience are all one love.

Kikongo, Portuguese, Swahili and Lingala are lyrical languages that convey an open invitation to Sam Mangwana's Africa, and Galo Negro (Putumayo Artists) showcases Mangwana's prodigious musical skills. "Galo Negro," a song in Portuguese about the desires of an old freedom fighter, written by Mangwana with Montswet, is an example of contemporary music at its best. Also outstanding are "Caro Mabanzo," written by Mangwana, "Manjani" and "Zengolo."

Putumayo also has recorded Tuku Music by the Zimbabwean singer-composer Oliver Mtukudzi and the Afro-Cuban sounds of Angolan vocalist and writer Ricardo Lemvo on Mambo Yo Yo. The label produces brilliantly packaged compilations of African, Caribbean, American Indian, Mediterranean, Celtic and Brazilian contemporary music.

New World Party, one of Putumayo's latest, is a global mix that includes Miriam Makeba, Wyclef Jean, the German techno-pop group Dissidenten, the Brazilian singers Daude with Djavan, and the very hip-hop Algerian Hamid Baroudi--all dedicated to exploring the tonal universe.

Although all modern jazz is, ultimately, of "the New York School," an inclusive, world culture element has always been present. The current exemplar of this cultural imperative is Jamaican jazz pianist Monty Alexander. Monty's performances on Stir It Up: The Music of Bob Marley (Telarc Jazz) bring a jazz sensibility to such Marley masterpieces as "Kaya" and "The Heathen." Alexander's jazz reggae tribute reveals the different intellectual dimensions inherent in Marley's compositional genius, and you hear "Could You Be Loved" in a new way. Capturing the essential beauty of Bob Marley's rhythms and melodies, while demonstrating anew their profundity, Alexander creates a unique fusion of Jamaica's musical gift to the universe and a jazz master's touch.

Regina Carter shows why she's heir to the tradition of jazz violinist Hezekiah Leroy Gordon "Stuff" Smith with her latest project, Rhythms of the Heart (Verve). Another artist with a highly polished vocal style, Vanessa Rubin takes us on an enjoyable excursion through the song world of a jazz singer deserving wider recognition on Language of Love (Telarc Jazz).

Blues singer Gaye Adegbalola comes on strong with Bitter Sweet Blues (Alligator), her first solo album. As cofounder of Saffire--the Uppity Blues Women, Adegbalola has made six records. Her song "Middle Aged Boogie" won the 1990 W.C. Handy Award for Song of the Year. Tunes by Nina Simone, Bessie Smith, Keb' Mo' and Smokey Robinson complement the down-home textures of Adegbalola's originals.

One of the baddest West Coast blues musicians to come down the Boulevard of the Blues was the late Connie Curtis "Pee Wee" Crayton. The Texas-born electric-guitarist-singer-writer, who had it all working plus a huge blues sound, was a student of fellow Texan blues master and electric-guitar pioneer T-Bone Walker.

Early Hour Blues (Blind Pig), recorded in 1983 and '84, is a stylistic two-lane suspension bridge connecting jazz with rhythm and blues and supported by a rock-hard foundation of the blues. Built around Crayton's 1948 hit "Blues After Hours," these 11 cuts are his last recordings. He proved that he could still groove. In fact, "Blues After Hours" has come to epitomize the late-'40s-early-'50s "slow drag."

Then, on "Early Hours" and B.B. King's "When I'm Wrong," Crayton transports you to a whole other blues space. Pee Wee Crayton knew how to bend a guitar note, and he knew how to sing and he knew how to swing.

T. Brooks Shepard is a writer in Boston.