In February 2021, percussionist, pianist, and composer
Joe Chambers issued
Samba de Maracatu, his first album for
Blue Note since 1998. Just under a year later, he returns with
Dance Kobina. The earlier album reflected a famous samba rhythm birthed in the northern Brazilian state of Pernambuco, amid the West African diaspora. This set, recorded in New York and Montreal, continues its exploration of historic links between jazz, Latin, and African musics, focusing attention on guaguanco, a subgenre of Cuban rumba. He plays drums throughout and vibraphone on four tracks, in ensembles ranging from piano trios to sextet. He co-produced the album with pianist
Andres Vial. Its nine tunes include three by the leader.
Set opener "This Is New" -- a standard written by
Kurt Weill that
Chambers recorded first with
Chick Corea on 1966's
Tones for Joan's Bones -- is a hard-swinging post-bop take delivered by
Chambers, pianist
Richard Germanson, and bassist
Mark Lewandowski. While his triomates play it bright and straight,
Chambers adds Afro-Latin accents, stretching tempo and beat, and creating a multi-dimensional dialogue between players. The title cut, one of two penned by
Vial, showcases propulsive connections between son, guaguanco, and West African calypso.
Vial plays piano, with
Ira Coleman on bass,
Caoilainn Power on alto sax,
Michael Davidson on vibes,
Chambers on the kit, and Congolese percussionist
Elli Miller Maboungou on Ngoma drums. It rumbles with undulant, percolating dance rhythms amid killer vibes and piano solos and locked-in rhythmic interplay. "Caravanserai" is a
Chambers' original offered as a very fast rumba. The composer plays drums and vibes that he judiciously places between rippling lines from
Germanson and syncopated Latin percussion from
Emilio Valdes Cortes, as
Lewandowski holds the center.
Vial's "City of Saints" is a brooding modal post-bop number that juxtaposes long lyric lines via the dreamy communication between
Power's alto and
Davidson's vibes. A circular
Coleman bass vamp and Afro-Latin rhythms from
Chambers and
Maboungou wind it together. "Gazelle Suite," another
Chambers' original, is rhythmically intense. His rifling, undulant kit work calls forth vibes, marimba, bombos legueros (an Argentine hand drum made from a tree trunk), and Ngoma drums.
Vial also plays piano and joins with
Power to channel those beats, even as dynamics, tempos, keys, and harmonics shift toward a striking, resonant conclusion.
Joe Henderson's "Power to the People" is delivered by a quintet that includes
Chambers on drums and vibes and
Marvin Carter on tenor. The open modal lyric is accented and pushed to the fore by the intersected rhythms of guaguanco, rumba, son, and guaracha. The bookend is a trio reading of
Karl Ratzer's "Moon Dancer" with
Germanson and
Lewandowski, with
Chambers doubling on vibes; his rhythm imaginatively combines guaguanco and rumba over the rhythm section's swinging post-bop. The holistic, evolutionary approach and stellar performances on
Dance Kobina make it
Chambers' finest as a leader for
Blue Note. ~ Thom Jurek
![Pharoah [Expanded Edition]](http://prodimage.images-bn.com/pimages/0680899800822_p0_v2_s90x140.jpg "Pharoah [Expanded Edition]")
