Search - Conjure :: Bad Mouth

Strong stuff, if a little longwinded...

N. Dorward | Toronto, ON Canada | 09/16/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I tend to think of Kip Hanrahan as part of the 1980s/1990s bunch of "jazz auteurs": Hal Willner, Bill Laswell, John Zorn--figures who tended to put their imprint on albums not so much through direct paticipation but through assembling mouthwatering casts of musicians to work on album-length projects. (They were of course following in the footsteps of figures like Mike Mantler/Carla Bley and Miles Davis/Teo Macero, just to keep the range of reference within the jazz sphere...)



Hanrahan's been a little quiet lately, as far as I can tell, but he's lately released a pair of records--this one, a double-album reviving the Conjure band for another set of collaborations with the novelist/poet Ishmael Reed, and a soundtrack album for a documentary on the poet Piri Thomas. _Bad Mouth_ is an often stunning melange of jazz, Cuban percussion, funk, postmodern blues, spoken word, R&B vocals, you name it. As always, there's a tremendous cast of characters: I won't list them all, but it's worth noting the presence of Billy Bang, David Murray, Yosvanny Terry, the hotshot Cuban drummer Dafnis Prieto, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Anthony Cox..... The album peaks early, with a terrific pair of tracks: the wicked funk of "Mo Ku Lana, Mo Jinde Loni" (which is I assume translated in the opening words: "I died yesterday. I rose today.") and "In War Such Things Happen", a devastating commentary on ends-justify-the-means violence on both sides of the "war on terror". The rest of the set is nearly as good, though most of the best material is on disc one; the second CD does tread water at times, but never loses its way and is notable for some terrific work from David Murray. I've flip-flopped a few times on Murray, a player who does often bluster his way through solos, leaving lots of rhythmic loose ends and half-baked ideas; here, though, he turns in some imaginative, very focussed work, especially his solo on "Jack Johnson".



Impressive stuff: a marriage of words, cultures and musics that really works. Check it out."

Conjure news from Ismael Reed

J. A. de Jong | The Netherlands | 08/13/2006

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Great New recordings from Ismael's lyrics on American Clave. Once again Kip and his usual line-up of Conjure musicians did a great recording job. It's not as funky as Cab Calloway stands in for the moon, but it's really good with hot improvisations. I recomment this double album, buy it!

Joop"