Suite Unseen: Summoner of the Ghost
Babatunde Lea | Motéma Music
By Jerry D'Souza


The summoner of the ghost goes on an African-inspired journey in jazz on Suite Unseen. That certainly says something for the music, and if that tag is the bait, then band of musicians that Babatunde Lea has gathered for the adventure is the lure. And there is no disappointment on this exciting journey with the call and the ambit being jazz in the mainstream. The addition of other elements serves to perk the path.
Lea dispenses with the continuous structure of a suite, breaking it up into five and interspersing the segments with music that fits in very nicely indeed. And as he begins, Lea takes an “Ancestral Stroll,” which is bristling and fiery, made all the more palpable by Steve Turre on the trombone and some imaginative rhythm from Lea on the drums and “Bujo” Kevin Jones on percussion. Richard Howell etches a deeper vein on the saxophone in a wiry, intense outing. The percussive beat of the third part, “Spirit of the Wood,” is irresistible with the balafon and the kalimba and the chants, a spell that completes its circle when the conch shells whoop in.

More often than not, pop tunes given a jazz invocation turn out to be little more than codswallop. Not so with “Fire and Rain,” a James Taylor classic transformed most beautifully by Howell. He never goes past the emotion of the song, nor does he try to inject more than is necessary to make it an experience worth latching onto. And when he has made his statement, Glen Pearson extends the impact with a harmonically rich turn on the piano. Of the other material, “The Bay Area’s Afro-Latin Funky Love Shuffle” is all what it says, the sinews of the melody wrapped by the trombone. From then on it goes into funk and Latin and some dense harmonies, all making for a joyous ode. Lea sure does summon up some good times.