Faruq Z. Bey With Northwoods Improvisers - Infa'a (2006)

Faruq Z. Bey With Northwoods Improvisers - Infa'a (Qbico, 2006)

Personnel:
Faruq Z. Bey: tenor & alto sax
Mike Carey: tenor, alto sax, flute, kalimba
Skeeter Shelton: tenor, soprano sax
Mike Gilmore: vibes
Mike Johnston: bass
Nick Ashton: drums

Tracklisting:

A1. Oncala        
A2. Ethiopia        
B1. After Death        
B2. Ode To E. R. 

"Qbico often has cool color-swirled vinyl, but this time it seems like it’s mood-vinyl, a soothing and fervent green spins around the turntable almost as an entrancing as this release itself. There are minor flashes of red and blue and white…but the green is elemental and rich. This supports the garden of sound cultivated here, Bey’s sax takes deep roots, often shadowed and wrapped with brotherly vines from fellow saxmen Mike Carey and Skeeter Shelton. Nick Ashton’s drums drop dewdrops on all the players, moist with cymbals plenty. Mike Gilmore’s vibes are what make this so green…so alive…hell they even make a track called “Ethiopia” sound lush. That has a nice mystic run to it, and in the latter half bassist Mike Johnston and Ashton get one of those infinite grooves ala Parker and Drake going, magic carpet rise! Again Gilmore is the sonic photosynthesis here..listen to him wrap up that “Ethiopia” number. On the flipside we explore life on “After Death” with Mike Carey communicating via kalimba and Bey slowly stirring the song along. Again an almost Egyptian flare rises from the ashes, if anyone stumbles on this review by way or searching jazz and Gilmore, as Sun Ra built an Arkestra that took to the skies, in Detroit Faruq Z. Bey and his Northwoods are in full bloom. Pristine earth soul jazz." Thurston Hunger KFJC FM on-line review
"The music exists in a space cleared long ago by Coltrane's tireless modal searching and Sun Ra's insinuating pulse, yet it still appears fresh and purposeful - a music pleasingly at ease with it's own history". Julian Cowley; The Wire Feb. 2007 [Qbico]

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