Search - Peter Alexander :: Das Peter Alexander Festival

Potentially lost in the cycles of hype, dismissal, and rediscovery that have followed exotica pioneer and percussionist Arthur Lyman is the fact that he played great "world" music before such a genre existed. On Yellow Bird Lyman takes on "Havah Negilah," "Ravel's Bolero," and "Autumn Leaves" with mellow, cocktail-poised vibraphone and additional percussion instruments. These are ultimately global tracks, if also humorous cultural documents, taken by Lyman to quirky levels through Afro-Caribbean strains and vaguely polyglot rhythmic directions. International music has come a long way since Lyman, but he did great things when elasticizing musical borders. --Andrew Bartlett