Sound Travels

Drumming legend Jack DeJohnette’s 50-year career has included long stints with Charles Lloyd, Miles, Sonny, Freddie, Keith Jarrett, dozens more. A huge part of jazz-rock fusion (starting w Miles’ “Bitches Brew” band), he’s done hard, soft, world & New Age. Here he plays drums & piano (quite well!) and leads a good band, incl the omnipresent Esperanza Spalding on bass & vox, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, and guitarist Lionel Loueke, on an album featuring a variety of light, likable styles. Nothing’s pathfinding here, but it’s very elegant and tasteful, like perfect dinner music (meant without sarcasm).

No FCC issues.

1 * Mid slow. An invocation. Pretty solo piano. Peaceful & calming. Starts & ends with a resonating bell. Could as well be played on a classical program as on a jazz one. (2:24)

2 *** Mid-tempo. Fun salsa. Trumpet leads at times, but mostly it’s Latin perc & piano backing Spalding’s delightful scatting, then her & Jack’s duet singing in Spanish. (6:56)

3 *** What a gas! Co-written & sung well by Bruce Hornsby (but Jack plays piano). Hardly jazz, it’s more jam band: a bit country, a bit bluesy. Good electric guitar. Soprano sax fills the roll of a harmonica. A real fun song. RIYL Southern-fried bluesy rock: Allmans, maybe Delbert McClinton or, say, Bruce Hornsby. Even a bit of Grateful Dead here. (4:50)

4 ** Mid-tempo, but very propulsive & forceful. Straightforward modern jazz. Soprano sax & trumpet trade improvisational solos, sometimes with some off-major modality, the trumpet with something of a Spanish accent. (6:06)

5 * Mid fast. Another playful Latin number, but with a bit less energy than #2. There’s some nice bossa nova guitar. Strong tenor sax. A pool-side band could play this one, while you sip a rum drink and watch people do the limbo. (5:41)

6 Medium fast. Horns take a break. Not much of a melody; the rhythm section (piano, guitar, bass & drums) plays rhythm. Interesting but brief. (1:43)

7 Mid-tempo. Bobby McFerrin guests for some Bobby McFerrin-style scat singing; he’s accomp’d by conga & piano. Pleasant, almost dreamy; tends toward easy listening. (5:59)

8 Mid-fast. Some middle-age, smooth jazz, easy listening thing. A yawner. (8:05)

9 ** Very nice solo piano by DeJohnette. Some folk and some blues hints. (4:34)