By Philip Booth
Call it a tale of two cities, and the leader’s two instruments. On
Dance Kobina, the 16th album with Joe Chambers’ name above the title, the veteran drummer is joined by musicians variously recorded in New York and Montreal for a set of luminous music largely fueled by Afro-Cuban rhythms.
The NYC crew is up first, with pianist Richard Germanson and bassist Mark Lewandowski aboard for a trio version of Kurt Weill’s “This Is New,” which the leader first recorded on Chick Corea’s 1968 debut album
Tones for Joan’s Bones. It remains a delight, with a leapfrogging intro leading into warm-blooded swing and fertile solos by both of the drummer’s bandmates.
Other composers are in the mix, too. The same trio, with Chambers tripling on (overdubbed) vibes and percussion, holds forth on “Moon Dancer,” a pretty ballad penned by Karl Ratzer. And on “Power to the People,” by the leader’s old bandmate Joe Henderson, the trio is augmented by tenor saxophonist Marvin Carter and Cuban percussionist Emilio Valdes Cortes. Pianist Andrés Vial, part of the Canadian contingent, contributed two pieces. His stair-stepping title track, its interlocking grooves drawing from African American, Brazilian, Argentinian and Central African musical traditions, is fueled by Chambers, bassist Ira Coleman and Congolese percussionist Elli Miller Maboungou, and features Michael Davidson’s extended vibes solo. Alto saxophonist Caoilainn Power and Davidson take center stage on the floaty “City of Saints.”
Chambers’ own compositional prowess is also on display here, with the Manhattan players essaying the delicate ballad “Ruth,” the free-minded trio piece “Intermezzo” and the bustling “Caravanserai”; and the Montreal band, with Davidson doubling on marimba, ably mixing Latin and swing on “Gazelle Suite.” Chambers, who worked with the likes of Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Charles Mingus and Freddie Hubbard going back to the ’60s and ’70s, remains a potent force.
https://open.spotify.com/album/0AUn2s7xXGY4ZGWArU66QA?si=4xaRlyhjQTeUcZnvetnQHA
