Scenes From My Life

Review This gets my vote for debut jazz album of last year. This, despite the fact that it comes off - if you're not really listening - so sweetly as an Afro-Cuban-spiced song collection by a pleasant-enough vocalist who happens to be a bassist, too. Well, wake up, fellow listeners. "Scenes From My Life" is a deceptively smooth introduction to a substantial artist who might simultaneously satisfy populist and elite elements of the jazz crowd. A prodigiously self-taught youth from a remote village in West African Cameroon, Bona came to the country's capital, then to Paris, New York, and the world through the bands of proto-globo stars Harry Belafonte and Joe Zawinul. He can really write tunes, play, lead a band, and sing with the appealing soft-pedaled lyricism of the best Senegambian griots and Brazilian tropicalistas. On electric bass, Bona gives graceful lilt to a variety of funky chants and vamps, also applying the pure tone he's derived from his hero Jaco (at his healthiest) to aching ballads and in-the-pocket riffs. Even more gratifying, Bona's original songs (12 of them here) are superior - brimming with refreshing, singable melodies that trade on reggae, Latin jazz, and Afro-Diaspora music, but never less than musically. Each tune is distinctly set and memorable; highlights include the sharply fusionesque "Djonbwe," the driving Cuban-styled "Te Dikalo," the audibly seductive "One Minute" (the lone track Bona sings in English), and the string- quartet introduction on "Muna Nyuwe." Bona's titles may be obscure, but his message translates into real pleasure. The music is sunny, buoyant, mysterious, and up-to-date, perfect for sophisticated radio. In performance, he's unforced and charismatic, in a league with a very boyish Gilberto Gil if not quite King Sunny Ade. And there's jazz in the mix, melody that can be transmuted in multiple ways, rhythm that makes a difference, performance imbued with vitality and the belief that music matters. Bona's authenticity shines through the slightest bit of gloss. As he grows into his personal but unabashedly accessible idiom, he's already well worth hearing. --- Howard Mandel, JAZZIZ Magazine Copyright © 2000, Milor Entertainment, Inc. -- From Jazziz Product description Scenes From My Life
ASIN: B00000K29M
VSKU: DBV.B00000K29M.G
Condition: Good
Author/Artist:Richard Bona
Binding: Audio cd
Note: Any images shown are stock photographs and product may differ from what is shown.
Condition Notes: Individually inspected: Guaranteed to play perfectly or your money back. Case may show wear and may be in library packaging. Ships Fast!