African Flowers

African Flowers from Chicago saxophonist Geof Bradfield is an evocative suite of music that expresses in Bradfield's musical terms the colorful spirit of another land and culture. Bradfield traveled to Africa in February 2008 with the Ryan Cohan Quartet, performing with the group in Rwanda, Congo, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Bradfield had delved into the history and litera�ture of those countries prior to the trip, and afterwards explored African musical interpretations from pianist Randy Weston, helping him to conceive of his own musical impressions of Africa. As the liner notes and quotes from Bradfield suggest, the resulting suite of music from Bradfield draws as much from his own musical essence as a modern jazz performer steeped in the jazz heritage, as it draws directly from African music (such as traditional Rwandan praise songs used in "Butare" and Congolese rumba music in "Lubumbashi"). With all these elements plus his innovative imagi�nation and strong writing and arranging skills, Bradfield has crafted an appealing musical portrait of Africa which is well comprehended and performed by his excellent sextet, yielding one of the finest jazz albums of the year in my view. Special kudos go to George Fludas and Victor Garcia for their outstanding percussion work, and to fine solos all around from Bradfield, Garcia on trumpet, pianist Cohan, guitarist Parker, and bassist Sommers.