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CD Review
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Crawdaddy, CD Review >>
-j. poet
Jayme Stone & Mansa Sissoko
Africa to Appalachia
(Factor, 2008)
Canadian Jayme Stone is an eclectic banjo player intent on demolishing predeterminations about what the instrument should sound like or what kind of music it should play. He chose the banjo because he was intrigued by its unique construction, with the odd, droning fifth string. He started playing old music and bluegrass, but was also attracted to jazz and Indian classical music. A week at Ali Akbar Khan’s school of music in San Rafael, CA, opened his ears to the possibilities of free flowing improvisation and unlimited expression. In a recent interview, he said that Khan’s approach made him rethink everything he’d ever learned about music. His academic side sent him to the library to investigate the history of his instrument. Realizing that it came to America via the slave trade from West Africa was an eye-opening experience. After lessons with heavies like Béla Fleck, Tony Trischka, Dave Douglas, and Bill Frisell, he started his own band, Tricycle, to play a jazzy style of roots music. He also fronts his Juno (Canadian Grammy)-winning Jayme Stone Quartet, blending jazz, bluegrass, and anything else that strikes his fancy.
Still, the connection his instrument had to Africa kept haunting him. When he met Mansa Sissoko, a kora (21-string traditional West African harp) player who had recently relocated to Quebec from Mali, he felt a deep connection. Although they had no common verbal language, they began a musical collaboration that finally made Stone undertake a trip to the African motherland. He spent seven weeks in Mali avoiding other tourists and playing with traditional musicians in villages far from the bustling cities. When he returned, he assembled a studio band that included Mansa Sissoko on kora, Bassekou Kouyate on ngoni (a Malian bass/banjo hybrid), Grant Gordy from his quartet on guitar, standup bass man Paul Mathew, and drummer/percussionist Nick Fraser. Stone claims the music on the resulting album, Africa to Appalachia, is “rooted in, yet free from, tradition.” It’s a nice sound bite, and while the music doesn’t quite live up to its high concept, there are enough beautiful moments here to make it a worthwhile listen.
The first thing you notice is Stone’s restraint. His playing is always in service of the song; he never shows off his considerable licks to wow you. This is a band album, with all the players working together to make compelling music. “Bibi” is a tune from Sissoko with an easy loping rhythm that’s accented by Fraser’s subtle percussion and the interplay between kora and banjo. Sissoko follows up a rippling kora solo with soulful vocal imprecations that touch the African roots of soul shouting.
On “Yelemane”, Sissoko sings encouragement to the people of a small village, telling them to remember their culture as they strive to bring their town in line with the global marketplace. A tranquil kora solo with an almost Asian feel leads into an extended duet with banjo and kora playing together in intricate harmony, with Stone occasionally taking off to deliver nimble fingered banjo fills. Mathew’s bass line rises up, joining the fiddle of guest player Casey Driessen to set up the coda, and Stone’s bluesy, muted banjo plays off of the precise, measured notes of Sissoko’s kora. “Djula” drops a bit of South African flavored jazz into the mix. Stone opens the tune playing muted kora-like lines on the banjo. The trumpet of special guest David Travers-Smith bobs through the mix sounding like the ghost of Louis Armstrong’s New Orleans cornet, while Sissoko’s celebratory vocal gooses the song along. Stone and Sissoko trade solos, then Fraser’s bubbling percussion and Travers-Smith’s burnished trumpet take the tune home. On “Dakar”, Stone bends Malian blues, Senegalese rhythms, and bluegrass style picking. Gordy’s dark guitar drops into an extended African/country solo before Stone’s jazzy newgrass solo, full of hammered on overtones and sinuous melodic flights.
More African sounding songs include “Tene”, a traditional lullaby where Sissoko’s gentle vocal is supported by subtly intertwined guitar, kora, and banjo; “Sila”, a song sung at births and deaths, with a slow loping duet by Sissoko and Katenen Dioubate that sings of the cycle of life and death; and “Bamaneyake”, a praise song that gently reminds a king that he’s nothing without his subjects. Stone’s banjo and Gordy’s sitar-like guitar fills add blue accents to Sissoko’s extended kora solo. Two bluegrass instrumentals give the Canadians a chance to show off their fancy pickin’. “June Apple” is a jazzy newgrass jam featuring Driessen’s smoking fiddle, while “Chinquapin Hunting” bounces along on a mid-tempo groove that lets Gordy, Stone, and Driessen strut their stuff. 09/03/08 >> go there
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