Vernon Reid & Masque - Known Unknown
Vernon Reid & Masque
Known Unknown
Favored Nations 2004
Produced by Vernon Reid & Joe Johnson
Personnel:
Vernon Reid - guitars, guitar synth
Leon Gruenbaum - piano, casio, organ, samchillian tip tip tip chee peeeee
Hank Schroy - bass
Marlon Browden - drums
DJ Logic - special guest DJ on Voodoo Pimp Stroll
Vernon Reid is most known for having founded and led the genre-busting Living Colour (recently reformed and tearing shit up again after a too-long hiatus), but his history goes further back and laterally; stints in avant-garde jazz lineups of Ronald Shannon Jacksons Decoding Society, early albums with Defunkt, experimental work with Bill Frisell, founding the Black Rock Coalition (still active), and guest spots on a slew of albums; Public Enemy, Madelaine Peyroux, Geri Allen, the Ramones, Carlos Santana, Jack DeJohnette, and Tracy Chapman to name a few. His work is instantly catchy yet deeply out there. Way out. So far out the shit is back in. Deeply in.
When he released his first solo effort, the dazzling Mistaken Identity in 1996, it was a staggering brainfuck mix of the sacred and profane. Covering more styles than most record stores keep in stock, it was produced by jazz giant Teo Macero (Miles Davis) and Prince Paul (Handsome Boy Modelling School, De La Soul) and was simply so ambitious it went by mostly unnoticed because Sony had no fucking clue how to market it. Not surprising really as most record companies have marketing departments that may as well be run via the Warren Harding School of Clueless Business program. With this album, Vernon has come to a boutique label (Steve Vai's Favored Nations) and takes a more straightforward direction. The results are still well worth listening to.
While Known Unknown lacks the sprawling variance of it's predecessor, it is far from a simple affair. It is all instrumental, and focuses on a brand of jazz and rock fusion that harkens to the best efforts of a Jeff Beck or John McLaughlin, but more edgy and dissonant, and certainly funkier. Most of the tracks are originals, but of note are his two covers, a solid workover of Brilliant Corners by Thelonius Monk which goes for a kind of Monk on speed with heaping distortion and scalar runs like Joe Satriani hooked up to a car battery. The other cover is truly a great interpretation of Lee Morgan's Sidewinder, which keeps the same gritty swing on it, but adds an almost go-go bounce.
The cd opens with the title track, which oddly enough is the weakest composition here. Rapidly however, things pick up. The Slouch is dirty and funky with Gruenbaum providing organ chops to spare and some serious bass work from Schroy (who has been with Vernon since his last solo album and through the live tour of Vernon & DJ Logic's side project, the Yohimbe Brothers). There are little Hendrix-ish bits in Strange Blessing and Outskirts is jazz metal done with a bipolar swerve towards funky and fun segues in various pots. Down and Out in Kigali and Freetown is organic jungle electronica beats and atmospheric breakdowns that evoke almost exactly the image the title suggests. Voodoo Pimp Stroll is what most jam bands wish they could do, with hints of electric sitar, heady fonk (that's an 'o' not a 'u'), and an infectious sense of fun. The closer, X The Unknown is an odd mix of club beats and spacey sustained noise with James Brown cut and run interplay. More mellow material is available as well, such as the introspective Flatbush and Church and the brief -it clocks in at less than 2 minutes- Ebow Underground (Excerpt) which is an evocative solo piece. It's a brilliant marathon from Miles's Bitches Brew to the Pixies Surfer Rosa in terms of sonic offerings.
The whole band here is tight, which is to say they sound more like a complete band rather than accomplices on a solo album (as Schroy, Gruenbaum and DJ Logic were on Mistaken Identity. The whole album has a feel of both spontenaity and natural flow. While this is an instrumental album, it is the kind of thing that fusion and jam band fans can appreciate with equal joy. It has the shifting dissonance and slinky grooves that are hallmarks of Vernons playing, but also showcases a knack for melodic development and rhythmic punch that some might not immediately associate with Reid.
It's like Prince and Lenny Kravitz meet Frank Zappa and decide to jam.
Buy this damn thing and see him live on the short tour he's is doing to support the album.
For more info:
http://www.livingcolournet.com
http://livingcolour.blogspot.com
http://www.vernon-reid.com
---
You might like this if you like:
Jeff Beck - You Had it Coming
Carlos Santana - Spirits Dancing in the Flesh
Living Colour - Collide0scope
Oysterhead - The Grand Pecking order
Robert Randolph and the Family Band - Unclassified
Jonas Hellborg - Personae
Known Unknown
Favored Nations 2004
Produced by Vernon Reid & Joe Johnson
Personnel:
Vernon Reid - guitars, guitar synth
Leon Gruenbaum - piano, casio, organ, samchillian tip tip tip chee peeeee
Hank Schroy - bass
Marlon Browden - drums
DJ Logic - special guest DJ on Voodoo Pimp Stroll
Vernon Reid is most known for having founded and led the genre-busting Living Colour (recently reformed and tearing shit up again after a too-long hiatus), but his history goes further back and laterally; stints in avant-garde jazz lineups of Ronald Shannon Jacksons Decoding Society, early albums with Defunkt, experimental work with Bill Frisell, founding the Black Rock Coalition (still active), and guest spots on a slew of albums; Public Enemy, Madelaine Peyroux, Geri Allen, the Ramones, Carlos Santana, Jack DeJohnette, and Tracy Chapman to name a few. His work is instantly catchy yet deeply out there. Way out. So far out the shit is back in. Deeply in.
When he released his first solo effort, the dazzling Mistaken Identity in 1996, it was a staggering brainfuck mix of the sacred and profane. Covering more styles than most record stores keep in stock, it was produced by jazz giant Teo Macero (Miles Davis) and Prince Paul (Handsome Boy Modelling School, De La Soul) and was simply so ambitious it went by mostly unnoticed because Sony had no fucking clue how to market it. Not surprising really as most record companies have marketing departments that may as well be run via the Warren Harding School of Clueless Business program. With this album, Vernon has come to a boutique label (Steve Vai's Favored Nations) and takes a more straightforward direction. The results are still well worth listening to.
While Known Unknown lacks the sprawling variance of it's predecessor, it is far from a simple affair. It is all instrumental, and focuses on a brand of jazz and rock fusion that harkens to the best efforts of a Jeff Beck or John McLaughlin, but more edgy and dissonant, and certainly funkier. Most of the tracks are originals, but of note are his two covers, a solid workover of Brilliant Corners by Thelonius Monk which goes for a kind of Monk on speed with heaping distortion and scalar runs like Joe Satriani hooked up to a car battery. The other cover is truly a great interpretation of Lee Morgan's Sidewinder, which keeps the same gritty swing on it, but adds an almost go-go bounce.
The cd opens with the title track, which oddly enough is the weakest composition here. Rapidly however, things pick up. The Slouch is dirty and funky with Gruenbaum providing organ chops to spare and some serious bass work from Schroy (who has been with Vernon since his last solo album and through the live tour of Vernon & DJ Logic's side project, the Yohimbe Brothers). There are little Hendrix-ish bits in Strange Blessing and Outskirts is jazz metal done with a bipolar swerve towards funky and fun segues in various pots. Down and Out in Kigali and Freetown is organic jungle electronica beats and atmospheric breakdowns that evoke almost exactly the image the title suggests. Voodoo Pimp Stroll is what most jam bands wish they could do, with hints of electric sitar, heady fonk (that's an 'o' not a 'u'), and an infectious sense of fun. The closer, X The Unknown is an odd mix of club beats and spacey sustained noise with James Brown cut and run interplay. More mellow material is available as well, such as the introspective Flatbush and Church and the brief -it clocks in at less than 2 minutes- Ebow Underground (Excerpt) which is an evocative solo piece. It's a brilliant marathon from Miles's Bitches Brew to the Pixies Surfer Rosa in terms of sonic offerings.
The whole band here is tight, which is to say they sound more like a complete band rather than accomplices on a solo album (as Schroy, Gruenbaum and DJ Logic were on Mistaken Identity. The whole album has a feel of both spontenaity and natural flow. While this is an instrumental album, it is the kind of thing that fusion and jam band fans can appreciate with equal joy. It has the shifting dissonance and slinky grooves that are hallmarks of Vernons playing, but also showcases a knack for melodic development and rhythmic punch that some might not immediately associate with Reid.
It's like Prince and Lenny Kravitz meet Frank Zappa and decide to jam.
Buy this damn thing and see him live on the short tour he's is doing to support the album.
For more info:
http://www.livingcolournet.com
http://livingcolour.blogspot.com
http://www.vernon-reid.com
---
You might like this if you like:
Jeff Beck - You Had it Coming
Carlos Santana - Spirits Dancing in the Flesh
Living Colour - Collide0scope
Oysterhead - The Grand Pecking order
Robert Randolph and the Family Band - Unclassified
Jonas Hellborg - Personae
posted by theloniusfunk at 12:25 AM
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