Afrodeezia is bassist
Marcus Miller's debut for Blue Note Records. Produced by the artist, the 11-track set features his core band -- saxophonist Alex Han, trumpeter Lee Hogans, pianist Brett Williams, guitarist
Adam Agati, and drummer
Louis Cato -- with an international list of guests. The music was inspired by
Miller's work as a UNESCO artist for peace, and as a spokesperson for the Slave Route project.
Afrodeezia is a masterful contemporary reflection of transcontinental rhythms and melodies that have migrated through the bodies and spirits of African slaves as they were transported to South America, the Caribbean, and the United States before refracting back across the globe in the contemporary era through jazz, R&B, and hip-hop. "Hylife," the set's first single, reflects the long reach of Ghana's popular style grafted on to contemporary jazz-funk with a host of Senegalese musicians on percussion and backing vocals. Lead vocals are provided courtesy of Alune Wade, the great Senegalese bassist. Despite its intense dancefloor appeal, the players' sophisticated rhythmic and harmonic interplay is ferocious. On "B's River," kora player Cherif Soumano and guest trumpeter
Etienne Charles solo with
Miller on gimbri, bass, and bass clarinet. "Preacher's Kid (Song for William H)" melds modern jazz and American and African gospel. The bassist performs on upright, clarinet, and piano;
Cory Henry guests with a gorgeous organ solo as
Lalah Hathaway delivers wordless vocals supported by Wade, Dakar's mezzo-soprano Julia Sarr, and
Take 6's
Alvin Chea. "We Were There" celebrates the example of
George Duke and
Joe Sample and how their love for Brazilian sounds transformed modern jazz.
Robert Glasper's Fender Rhodes is a nice foil for
Miller's dominant bassline.
Hathaway's scat vocals are appended by a Brazilian chorus with percussion from
Marco Lobo. The cover of "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" features guitarists
Wah-Wah Watson (who appeared on
the Temptations' hit), and
Keb' Mo', whose blues approach arcs the lineage to the Delta.
Patches Stewart adds his NOLA trumpet playing to emphasize that city's R&B groove in the heart of Northern Soul. Rightfully, this jam is ruled by
Miller's bassline, which pays homage to the original while revealing how it influenced everything in popular music that came afterward. "Son of Macbeth" is another monster groover that re-links calypso to contemporary jazz. Just as Robert Greenridge's steel pan drums made
Grover Washington, Jr. and
Bill Withers' "(Just) the Two of Us" so infectious, Greenridge appears to do the same here. "I Can't Breathe," with just
Miller and
Mocean Worker creating a wild meld of instrumental color, back
Public Enemy's
Chuck D in wedding hard funk, political hip-hop, and dance music, exhorting the listener to remember that the struggle for equality is not over.
Miller's wide-angle view of jazz is extended further on the glorious
Afrodeezia. It reveals in a sophisticated, exceptionally ambitious manner the labyrinthine interconnectedness of earlier sounds and rhythms -- which emerged from bondage and horrific suffering -- to new ones that bring the world joy. ~ Thom Jurek