The Path

There are a very few drummers whose inclusion will make me pick up a recording, Steve Jordan is one of them. The fact the Jordan, Anthony Jackson, and Manolo Badrena (three fourths of Steve Khan's famed Eyewitness band) play together on three tracks of this record make it instantly appealing to me. Throw in a tune featuring one-time Fela drummer Jojo Kuo, and one tune with Brazilian drummer Jurim Moreira, and you have an attractive rhythmic stew. Jordan and Jackson burn under saxophonist Alex Foster's solo on "Whenever," and they really lay into a groove on "Major Look," while "September Glide" has a very Eyewitness sound to it. Guitarist Paul Ricci plays with a very clean tone, and he really knows how to construct tracks because based on the liner notes, very few of the musicians were together in the same studio when these tunes were tracked, let alone in the same year! And yet you hear a lot of "interaction." Kuo's playing, and the Candombe percussion section on "Lobo" is mesmerizing, as are the haunting vocals of Abdoulaye Diabate. "Around the Block" features Moreira's and Anastacio's taste of Brazil. This is a good record of several varied grooves and bands. I would love to hear what any one of these bands would sound like for an entire recording.