Search - Mulatu Astatke :: Ethio Jazz Vol. 1

Complete Magic !

alwaysRELAXED | Milwaukee, WI | 06/15/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"When i found myself watching the movie Broken Flowers recently this year i found myself thinking more about the soundtrack rather than the actual film. The music chosen for the movie was amazing and the artist who led the soundtrack was Mulatu Astatke. No, this isn't the soundtrack to broken flowers, but this is a good introduction into the very interesting ethiopian style jazz. Mulatu, who is considered the father of ethio-jazz, is enjoyable to any music lover. Whether the listener is into rock, jazz, jam, or rap. Mulatu is known for his energetic and calming music that is very easy to listen to. I recommend this to everyone."

Half of this is over-produced, otherwise would have been a 5

Ryan Hunt | 02/06/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Half of this is just too clean and smooth (the more modern day recordings). You can tell what I mean when you listen to the album. Some of the tracks have that true natural gritty feel and sound (recorded in the late 60s/early 70's) that we loved in Broken Flowers, but the other songs have an extremely polished, clean sound to the point where you miss the true feel of the great ethiopian music of Mulatu's time. Still it's good stuff, but get Mulatu and the Ethiopiques Vol. 4 for the "real" Mulatu sound in my opinion, especially if you liked his Broken Flowers material."