Why did I wait ten years to review this disc?
Jan P. Dennis | Monument, CO USA | 02/20/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Because I'm dense, thick-headed, that's why. Sometimes it just takes me forever to find the right interpretive approach to music. There's really no excuse for this dimwittedness, except, perhaps--and this is a stretch--there's just not a lot of analogs of this stuff out there. I also confess to a deep-seated tendency to let expectations swamp my ability to encounter unheard musics without prejudice. Something I'm working on, but something that, admittedly, causes this weird delayed-appreciation effect.Still, let's face it. Native American/jazz discs are rare. Perhaps the closest analog to this fine music is Don Pullen's last recording before he succumbed to lymphoma, Sacred Common Ground. And, of course, many of the records in Jim Pepper's extensive discography.Let me be completely out front. As a Catholic Christian, I struggle with Native American sensibilities. I understand there are touchpoints between Catholicism and Native American religious understandings, but my difficulty with aboriginal American music is probably as much aesthetic as theological: I just don't get the whole tribal chant thing. Why am I so taken with this disc then (as well as with Sacred Common Ground and all of Jim Pepper's music)? After all, what we're dealing with here is, substantially, Indian chant.You know, I just can't explain exactly what it is. Perhaps it's Tony Hymas's brilliant reinterpretation and representation of Native American sensibilities. Perhaps it took a foreigner, a Brit, of all things, the genius behind that wacko fusion group, The Lonely Bears, to contextualize this vibe in a form that makes sense aurally, sensually, intellectually, and aesthetically.All I know is that this disc is a revelation. Such a deeply authentic Native American sensibility mapped onto an authentic jazz/funk vibe. Works for me. In spades.This stuff is so mesmeric it's scary. Yes, listen to it driving thru Wyoming at night. But also around a fire in the Upper Peninsula, in the Redwoods in NorCal, in the Dakota Badlands, and in the middle of NYC.Suffice it to say that there's a sound palette and vibe found nowhere else on recorded music (check out the spectacular soundscape on "Tashunka Witko," something R. Carlos Nakai could never imagine in his wildest dreams).As any of you know who've read my "jazz beat" or "world jazz" reviews, I'm maybe the world's greatest fan of this music when it works right--as it does here with astounding originality.I would recommend this music to just about anyone, save those who're constitutionally opposed to Native American sensibilities."
A tribute to Native American legends. Not a rock album.
L. Chin | 03/03/2001
(3 out of 5 stars)
"For anyone who thinks this is something along the lines of Hymas' rock/fusion collaborations with Jeff Beck, forget it. This is a 2 CD tribute to Native American greats such as Crazy Horse, Sitting Bull, etc. Comes across like a epic soundtrack of incidental music, symphonic interludes, Native American chants, poetry, Native American instruments. Beck guests on two cuts, but doesn't make much of an impact. If you are fascinated by Native American culture, you may be intrigued. Listen to this while driving through Wyoming at night and it will give you chills. Otherwise, it is not for the average listener."
Track Listings (12) - Disc #1