2005-06-31
Guardian - Review
Babatunde Lea
Suite Unseen: Summoner of the Ghost (Motema Music)
A West African chant to Yemaya, the Yoruban goddess of the ocean, flows into the North American Negro spiritual "Sometime I Feel Like a Motherless Child" during an a cappella interlude that connects two movements of Babatunde Lea's Suite Unseen: Summoner of the Ghost. The Vallejo-based trap drummer, hand percussionist, and composer has long delved into the many musical dimensions of the African diaspora, but with this ambitious recording he explores the spiritual side as well, using the a cappella section to call on ancestors who perished during the Middle Passage and later, over a furiously syncopated funk groove, to summon John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Count Basie, Cal Tjader, Stan Getz, Bill Evans, Miles Davis, and others in a decidedly multiracial roster of giants of African American music. The suite's five movements do not segue into each other; they're broken up by the compositions of trombonist Steve Turre and saxophonist Richard Howell – both of whom appear as members of Lea's sextet – among others. Turre and Howell's beefy ensemble voicings at times recall those of Abdullah Ibrahim, as does the sweetness of some melodies. The only pop standard of the bunch is James Taylor's "Fire and Rain," but it too gets a spiritual twist along the lines of Coltane's "A Love Supreme."
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