RSSMulatu Astatke/The Heliocentrics [extended]
- Out There [Now-Again, 2007] ***
- Inspiration Information, Vol. 3 [Strut, 2009] A-
- New York-Addis-London: The Story of Ethio Jazz 1965-1975 [Strut, 2009] A-
- Infinity of Now [Madlib Invazion, 2020] B+
See Also:
Consumer Guide Reviews:
The Heliocentrics: Out There [Now-Again, 2007]
Introducing Sun Ra and Michael Henderson-era Miles to Henry Mancini and Maurice White ("Distant Star," "Joyride"). ***
Inspiration Information, Vol. 3 [Strut, 2009]
The Ethiopia-born and -steeped, U.K.- and Berklee-educated, Harvard- and M.I.T.-associated Astatke is a subtle player on vibes, keyboards and Latin percussion as well as the inventor of something he calls Ethio-jazz. He gets much respect from his largely non-Ethiopian cult, a little less from DJ Shadow drummer Malcolm Catto's band--the Heliocentrics aren't just his sidemen, and thus concoct one of those remarkable collaborations where each party compensates for the other's shortcomings. On his own, Astatke is a mite understated, musicianly and genteel; on their own, the Heliocentrics are just slightly showy, brittle and fickle. Together they play not-quite-Arab Ethiopian scales real loud, juxtapose electric guitar and one-stringed mesenqo, and groove more obstreperously than jazz deems proper. There have been other Euro-Ethio fusions--Le Tigre, Dubulah, in a way Karl Hector. This is the only one that creates a world of its own. A-
Mulatu Astatke: New York-Addis-London: The Story of Ethio Jazz 1965-1975 [Strut, 2009]
Astatke's "Heliocentrics" album rules because like most fusioneers he's too interested in upward mobility to state the groove in the vulgar manner of a committed dance musician. But hear enough variations on those fermented Ethiopian scales and you'll learn to savor the piquancy of his voicings. Unlike the purely Addis Ethiopiques 4 collection, which provides eight of these 20 tracks, this overview dips into his montunos and charangas, his flute and steel drum hires, his vibraphone excursions. When I crave those scales straight I may well return to the Abyssinian source. But this is longer--and more flavorsome as well. A-
The Heliocentrics: Infinity of Now [Madlib Invazion, 2020]
Led by black Britons Malcolm Catto on drums and Jake Ferguson on bass, this intermittent pan-world band/project has bent its jazzy-beaty electro-atmospherics toward scholarly Ethiopian legend Mulatu Astatke and eightysomething U.S. Persian music polymath Lloyd Miller/Kurosh Ali Khan. Here the flavoring agent is the younger Barbora Patkova, whose dreamy soprano signifies no more specifically in English than in Czech than in vocalese yet somehow makes the whole schmear cohere. Some morning when you wake up in your own bed not knowing where you are or why it matters anymore, these wanderings might just help you feel at home. B+
See Also
- [NPR] Mulatu Astatke's 'Ethio-Jazz' Gets a New Edge [2009-07-31]