WHITEFIELD,JJ
BROTHER ALL ALONE - LP
UPC: 880655701015
Label: KRYPTOX
Format: LP
Release Date: June 7, 2019
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German guitarist, bandleader, and producer JJ Whitefield has been spearheading several musical sub-genres over the last two decades. His bands Poets of Rhythm, Whitefield Brothers, and Karl Hector & The Malcouns are almost legendary to fans worldwide. German label Kryptox has been created to show what's happening in the growing German neo-jazz underground. Brother All Alone is Whitefield's first album under his own name. Recorded in Berlin, Munich, and Nairobi with some of the most interesting heads of the German neo-jazz-kraut scene and mixed by Malcolm Catto of The Heliocentrics. In the 1990s, he paved the way for the retro funk revival as mastermind of the Poets Of Rhythm. Poets Of Rhythm's records later served as main influence for the Daptone crew, the New York band that backed Amy Winehouse on her breakthrough album Back In Black (2006). Whitefield later started to widen his interests in West African and Ethiopian music. This passion culminated of him being an integral part in re-launching the career of Ghanaian Afro funk legend Ebo Taylor and to work with Jagari Chanda of Zambian rock legends the W.I.T.C.H. since 2010. Now, back in Germany, JJ Whitefield culminates all these experiences on his album Brother All Alone, a melting pot of styles and influences, drawing from kraut, jazz, ambient, and world music heritages. His band consists of some of the most interesting talents of the new German jazz and kraut scene: Johannes Schleiermacher, Bernd Oezsevim, and Maasl Maier (Karaba, Embryo), with guest appearances from Sam Davids, Charif Megarbane, and Marja Burchard. The album starts with two quite calm songs: "Seven Seas" in 7/8 rhythm and "14/08". Then "Zone 30" takes over: an improvisation with a very slow tempo that opens of for "White Queen", a tribute song for Whitefield's daughter Lilly. Whitefield has a great interest in exotic library records: "Chilli Chicken" can be seen as a tribute to this scene. This track gets followed by two other tribute compositions: "Metrosex", a tribute to German Jazz legend Gunter Hampel and "Rubikon", an homage to one of the funkiest bands ever with a jazzy prog filter. Also "Yellow Sari" could remind certain vibes from more trippy exotic library sounds. The follow-up song "Dreckstück" then creates a slightly different atmosphere. The album closes with the beautiful "Nirguna", an ambient Indian drone experiment. 180 gram vinyl; Includes printed inner sleeve.
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