The third entry in a series that began in 2001 with
The Philadelphia Experiment and followed with 2003's The Detroit Experiment doesn't attempt to distill the music of an entire city, but rather a neighborhood within one. But that neighborhood being Harlem, there is enough culture to draw upon to create a dozen volumes, and so producer
Aaron Levinson and Ropeadope Records founder
Andy Hurwitz had their hands full. Simply trying to decide how to sum up on one newly minted all-star session all of the music that has emanated from within this storied section of New York City must have been a most daunting task, but
The Harlem Experiment succeeds in mashing jazz, R&B, funk, hip-hop, Latin, and even klezmer -- Jews once comprised Harlem's largest ethnic group -- seamlessly into one steaming, exciting creation. The musicians who form the core of
The Harlem Experiment are in themselves a varied, theoretically disconnected bunch: guitarist
Carlos Alomar is best known for his work with
David Bowie;
Steve Bernstein is a well-known N.Y.C.-based jazz trumpeter; and
Don Byron is primarily a jazz clarinetist whose adventurousness has taken him to klezmer, Motown (he recorded a fine tribute album to saxophonist
Junior Walker), and elsewhere. Rounding it out are keyboardist
Eddie Martinez, bassist
Ruben Rodriguez, and drummer
Steve Berrios. In addition, the guest list includes multi-genre vocalist
Queen Esther; the great bluesman
Taj Mahal; vocalist/guitarist
James Hunter; trumpeter
Olu Dara; turntablist
Larry Legend; and the poet
Mums (best known for his long-term role on HBO's prison drama Oz), serving here as a DJ who ties the pieces together via interludes during a mock radio program. How all of these disparate elements come together without sounding disjointed or ersatz hip is something of a minor miracle, but it works:
Mahal's scratchy vocal on the
Cab Calloway vehicle "Reefer Man" gives way matter-of-factly to
Bernstein's star turn on the easygoing "Harlem River Drive," which morphs into the old
Andrews Sisters hit "Bei Mir Bist du Schön," spotlighting
Byron. It never feels jarring or forced, just right. "A Rose in Spanish Harlem," sung by
Hunter, is doo wop transported to the modern-day street corner, coming out of
Alomar's salsa-fied "Mambo a la Savoy," which itself follows
Legend's club-ready "It's Just Begun." One album, no matter how ambitious, cannot hope to represent the whole of Harlem's rich history, but
The Harlem Experiment isn't only about pointing out the past -- with its emphasis on fusing what these streets have given and continue to give, it's just as much about pointing toward the future.