Conjure • Bad Mouth

This double CD foregrounds the words of poet Ishmael Reed, accompanied by grooves and tunes assembled by producer Kip Hanrahan, using what amounts to an American Clavé house band. Horacio el Negro Hernandez, Robby Ameen, Billy Bang and Fernando Saunders, Anthony Cox, David Murray and others contribute intense Latin-funk riffs, tunes and atmospheres that underscore Reed's poetry, which is by turns coruscating, moving, tender, explosive and political. However, it is Hanrahan's personal, hands-on method of shaping this material that gives the album its musical and artistic cohesion.
The centrepiece track is In War Such Things Happen, in which Reed lists the consequences of present-day war and terrorism from all sides, telling plainly how easily outrages can be justified. "You killed secretaries, dishwashers, janitors, busboys, dishwashers, civil servants and when we asked you why, you said, 'Well, this is a war, and in a war such things happen.'" Three numbers in, this is a hard track to follow, and some of the lesser pieces go on a tad too long. Had this been a single CD, it would have merited five stars. Nevertheless, it's a stunning album.
John L Walter • Guardian

Disc 1
1. Mo Ku Lana, Mo Jinde Loni
2. Conjuring a Calm Between Wars
3. In War Such Things Happen
4. He Picked A Fight With The Haitians
5. For Dancer
6. Bad Mouth
7. Tokyo Woman Blues

Disc 2
1.Go To Jazz
2. Louisiana Red
3. At An Azabu Cafe
4. Jack Johnson / Skirt Dance
5. Prayer to Earth

Alvin Youngblood Hart • voice, electric guitar

Fernando Saunders • voice, electric bass

Leo Nocentelli • electric guitar

Anthony Cox • electric bass

Horacio El Negro Hernandez • trap drums

Robby Ameen • trap drums

Yosvanni Terry • alto sax, checkere, voice

Pedro Martinez • voice, congas, percussion

Ricie Flores • congas

Ishmael Reed • voice • recitations

Billy Bang • violin

David Murray • tenor sax

Dafnis Prieto • trap drums

Kip Hanrahan • musical director, voice

Produced by Kip Hanrahan
Recorded January through April 2005, New Jersey, New York

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Label: American Clavé – AMCL 1052/53
Format: 320
Country: US
Released: 2006
Genre: Funk / Soul, Jazz
Style: Soul-Jazz, Jazz-Funk