If
Doug Cameron's previous album
Rendezvous was something of a musical daily journal for his Magellan-like adventures performing on cruise ships traversing the globe, his latest,
Passport, is the colorful slide show summarizing his reflections of where he spent his extended vacation. Debarking at ports of call everywhere from Puerto Rico and Venezuela to Egypt and points south in East Africa, he tells of his stops by combining the indigenous rhythms he encountered with his always adventurous tradeoffs between pure pop-jazz and classical and straight-ahead leanings.
Russell Ferrante adds his sharp improvisational flair to many of the best jams here; most exotic of these are "Old San Juan" (dramatically capturing the flavor of the salsa band he found in the town square of the city) and "Masai Mara" (weaving hot percussive grooves with the actual voices of his new Kenyan fans). The two covers -- a sweet take on Babyface's "Breathe Again" and an eight-minute, highly experimental exploration of the old
Stylistics tune "People Make the World Go Round" (the latter featuring the subtle, jazzy touches of
Joe Sample) -- summarize
Cameron's desire to please both his audience and his own, deeper artistic muses. ~ Jonathan Widran