March of the Jazz Guerillas

Amazon.com
San Francisco Bay Area percussionist Babatunde Lea is an established session musician who's worked with such jazz folk as Pharoah Sanders, McCoy Tyner, and John Tchicai, but he's focused more on Latin since the 1970s. March of the Jazz Guerrillas, Lea's Cubop debut, features such heavyweight players as pianist Hilton Ruiz, bassist Alex Blake, and master percussionists Bill Summers (of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters and Los Hombres Calientes fame) and Munyungo Jackson. Of course, the real star is Lea, whose powerful playing drives this album with an urgency remarkable even for Latin jazz standards. However, while Latin rhythms are the order of the day, there is some snappy bop playing from saxophonist Richard Howell, trumpeter Khalil Shaheed, and trombonist Angela Wellman. March finds the leader in his prime, surrounded by a great band. Moreover, it makes a fine addition to Lea's legacy of recordings that will enhance anyone's collection. --Tad Hendrickson

From Rhythm Magazine
March of the Jazz Guerillas is as much a socio-political statement as a musical one. Bay Area percussionist and activist Babatunde Lea is an established jazz session player, having worked with Pharaoh Sanders, McCoy Tyner, Joe Henderson and others. Here he's supported by a worthy cast that includes pianist Hilton Ruiz, bassist Alex Blake, saxophonist Richard Howell and fellow percussionist Bill Summer. Lea even enlists the fervent singing of Norman Black's Vernacular Choir on several tracks. March of the Jazz Guerillas dances between jazz and Afro-Cuban music, holding steadfast to Lea and Blake's unwavering grooves while their cohorts play heady bebop melodies. "The Creator Has a Master Plan" begins with Yoruba bata drumming, punctuated by Lea's trap-set, before segueing into a Sun Ra-styled R&B ballad. Howell and Ruiz solo, and the coda again hints at African roots, with the Vernacular Choir joining in with gleeful praise. --Robert Kaye

Tracks:

March Of The Jazz Guerrillas
Descarga Para Ginny
Back On Track
The Creator Has A Master Plan
Baldwin's Fire
Na Iwosan (The Healing)
Nature Boy
In Tune With Tune-day
Abuse Of Reality Mambo

Amazon.com

San Francisco Bay Area percussionist Babatunde Lea is an established session musician who's worked with such jazz folk as Pharoah Sanders, McCoy Tyner, and John Tchicai, but he's focused more on Latin since the 1970s. March of the Jazz Guerrillas, Lea's Cubop debut, features such heavyweight players as pianist Hilton Ruiz, bassist Alex Blake, and master percussionists Bill Summers (of Herbie Hancock's Headhunters and Los Hombres Calientes fame) and Munyungo Jackson. Of course, the real star is Lea, whose powerful playing drives this album with an urgency remarkable even for Latin jazz standards. However, while Latin rhythms are the order of the day, there is some snappy bop playing from saxophonist Richard Howell, trumpeter Khalil Shaheed, and trombonist Angela Wellman. March finds the leader in his prime, surrounded by a great band. Moreover, it makes a fine addition to Lea's legacy of recordings that will enhance anyone's collection. --Tad Hendrickson

Customer Reviews:

Would be his best, except for the painful vocals.......2004-11-20

Great compositions, great band, great playing by all should add up to a pure five-star recording, but (for me, at least) the vocals on two tracks (by tenor sax player Richard Howell) subtract a half-star. I'm curious as to why so many jazz instrumentalists feel the need to include a couple of vocal tracks. One thinks, for example, of the great recording Twisted Noon by Columna B, vitiated (although less so than Lea's) by vocals. Or Courtney Pine's fine disc, Devotion, also lessened in impact by inappropriate singing. Do artists think they will broaden appeal by adding vocal tracks? Or do they just want to include a couple favorite songs, which just happen to have lyrics? I don't know. But I really wish they'd resist temptation and stick to instrumental only renditions.

And it's not even so much that the vocals are of low quality (though that often is the case); it's just that they tend to break things up so much by injecting such a foreign element into the proceedings that the spell is broken. That's what happens for me on this otherwise fine disc: just when the vibe gets cookin' at the highest level, I'm subjected to a totally different sensibility, one that, no matter how fine a performance it is per se, nevertheless destroys the mood.

And it's especially a shame that that has to happen on such an otherwise wonderful disc. Pianist Hilton Ruiz, deploying his full range of Tyner-esque moves which he has nevertheless completely made his own, sounds just fabulous. Rolling out a dancing lyricism absolutely apposite to the Latin-jazz party vibe, he consistently establishes the exact right sensibility for this exuberantly visceral music. And Alex Blake . . . What a monster on bass! He gets this impossibly deep, almost thunderous sound out of his instrument, at once joyful and menacing. Khalil Shaheed (trumpet) and Angela Wellman (trombone), names unknown to me, play this music as if they were born to it. Add world-class percussionists Munyungo Jackson, Bill Summers and David Frazier, and you have a Latin-jazz powerhouse of a band.

What the hey. Despite the unattractive and intrusive vocals, I'm gonna give the great Babatunde Lea a full five stars on account of the extraordinary life, vitality, and deep groove that imbues this music with such spirited magic.

4 and a half stars.......2004-05-30

I agree with the other reviewer who raves about the version of "Nature Boy" that appears on this fine album. It is indeed an exquisite, passionate and imaginative reading by the vocalist. (Only Kurt Elling's rendition on his album "The Messenger" surpasses this one.)

Of course, this album has many more delights than just that song. I wasn't sure if I could really consider myself a fan of latin jazz before I heard this album, but I am one now. It did the trick.

As a HUGE Pharoah Sanders fan, I cannot gush enough over the gorgeously soulful version of "The Creator Has A Master Plan" that appears here. It is, for me, a gift from the Gods of Music.

Babatunde and his fellow musicians are positively smoking from start to finish. The grooves are infectious, the playing is enthusiastic and the sound is great. Tthe title tune alone is worth the price of the album. It's the kind of song that leaves me no option other than to hit the repeat button as soon as it ends.

This music is muy caliente, my friends. Buy it ...spice up your life...tickle your ears....smile inside.

great performaces by all.......2002-01-22

I agree with any music critic that this a worth while addition to any audiophiles collection, I heard the "voice of an angle" when I purchased the cd I had no idea the vocalist on the cd was the great tenor saxophonist on this cd one and the same from the group Vivendo de Pao (...get this,I also remember seeing and hearing Richard from back in the days when he use to sit in with the "Beach Boys" up in the "canyon").
Babautunde's drumming is strong and the cd is wonderful full of rhythm and groove but the talents of Richard Howell are simply amazing I know of his saxophone playing,I DID NOT KNOW HE COULD SING,REALLY SING!!..you have to hear Nature Boy I have never heard a better sung version from anyone and that includes (sorry Nat if you heard this you'd undrstand) the great Nat King Cole...great job B.Lea, keep marching!

Real Jazz.......2001-01-06

Of all the jazz cds I own this is by far the best. Babatunde is a very talented musician, composer and arranger. Unfortunately Babatunde has not been recognized for his wonderful talent, but it you want real jazz this is the cd for you.

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