STEVE LEHMAN: Sélébéyone
Pi, 2016

AVANT-JAZZ / HIP-HOP – You can always count on alto saxophonist Lehman to deliver something you've never heard before. Here, his hyper-modern quintet teams up with two MC/DJs: Gaston Bandi Mic, from Senegal, raps in the Wolof language with an edgy attack; HPrizm, from NYC, brings deep and poetic rhymes in English. The best tracks are the ones where these forces are most delicately balanced. When it clicks, it's mind-blowing. All tracks clean.

Fo’s Picks: 2, 4, 5, 6, 9

1. 6:07 – drone intro, ethereal piano vs hard-edged rap, angular sax comment
2. 5:57 – lyrical flow vs staccato squealing loops, jagged sax weaves through
3. 2:16 – reversed intro; quick Wolof rap over warped synths, staccato beat
4. 4:49 – alternates between mystical & brooding / kicking it hard & fast
5. 5:52 – uptempo sax/synth fusion; breathless voc enters over trippy breaks
6. 4:01 – seething political vocal over thick synth flow, sax accent, quick drums
7. 4:37 – darkly mystical: quick rapping, abstract tones & drones, open ending
8. 1:31 – same Wolof rap as #3, w/ less abstract but still-mysterious backing
9. 6:19 – weird sampled intro, explodes into abstract jazz w/quick Wolof rap

Gaston Bandi Mic, HPrizm - vocals
Steve Lehman, Maciek Laserre - saxophones
Carlos Homs - keyboards
Drew Gress - bass
Damion Reid - drums

[ Fo ] - 26 March 2017