Album review

Jimi Tenor & Tony Allen

Inspiration Information 4

added: 25 Oct 2009 // release date: 18 Oct 2009 // label: Strut
reviewer: Andy Snipper

SPROIIINNNGGGGG!
That will be the sound of genres being busted all over town then, as this collaboration between Fela Kuti’s drummer Tony Allen and Jimi Tenor combines Afrobeat with Funk, Acid-Jazz and ‘real’ Jazz and throws in a huge slug of Bob James meets Lalo Schifrin to cement the mix.

Absolutely bloody wonderful – my ass hasn’t stopped twitching for the last hour!

Between Allen’s sinuous and insistent percussion and Tenor’s horn, Flute and vocals the entire thing is dancefloor Afrobeat taken to the limit and the incendiary rhythms get under your skin and just force you to boogie like a daft-thing.
Musically they are excellent and they keep the interest with some positively deranged vocal stylings.

‘Sinuhe’ is pure Kuti styled Afrobeat and ‘Darker Side of Night’ has twisted lyrics intoned and squeaked out over keys, flute and percussion straight from the Hubert Laws school.
‘Mama England’ gives the listener a shuffle-beat with a dirty chant and ‘Celia’s Walk’ takes us into the jungle for a Griot chant over stutter drums.

Tony Allen may be in his seventies but his drumming is as infectious as ever and Jimi Tenor’s explorations into rhythm and head music seem to have hit a peak here.

Good stuff.

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