Track of the week: Meshell Ndegeocello, Virgo, Blue Note ****

It's Afrofuturistically funky and a beckoning from another universe. Comb the galaxy of Funk all day long every day and you'd still be searching for anything remotely approaching the multiverse of possibilities in the sound here. There is no one …

Published: 23 Mar 2023. Updated: 13 months.

It's Afrofuturistically funky and a beckoning from another universe. Comb the galaxy of Funk all day long every day and you'd still be searching for anything remotely approaching the multiverse of possibilities in the sound here. There is no one like Meshell Ndegeocello. And adherents of no single genre can be completely selfish about claiming the 54-year-old jazz A-list bass guitarist singer, songwriter, composer, bandleader born in Germany raised in Washington DC as their own.

'Virgo' - Meshell was indeed born under the same astrological star sign - features harpist Brandee Younger and Julius Rodriguez on Farfisa organ and introduces The Omnichord Real Book out in June. Album guests include a who's who of today's jazz greats including Jason Moran, Ambrose Akinmusire and Jeff Parker. Meshell is on vocals, key bass, and keyboards on the track.

Fans will know that there is an earlier 'Virgo' in the Meshell discography. Not a doppelgänger it had appeared on The World Has Made Me the Man of My Dreams (Bismillah) album back in 2007. And yet World Saxophone Quartet sax icon Oliver Lake who was on that earlier name chimer arranges the upcoming album's closing 'Virgo 3' track.

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Jane Bunnett and Maqueque, Playing With Fire, Linus Entertainment ***1/2

Toronto musician saxist/flautist Jane Bunnett has pioneered impossible to describe Cuban and beyond invigorating explorations for a long time but there are new faces always coming through and this latest fizzes with energy. This time around …

Published: 22 Mar 2023. Updated: 13 months.

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Toronto musician saxist/flautist Jane Bunnett has pioneered impossible to describe Cuban and beyond invigorating explorations for a long time but there are new faces always coming through and this latest fizzes with energy. This time around guitarist Donna Grantis (from the Prince 3rdeyegirl band) in the sound makes a difference in the latest line-up of Maqueque particularly on 'A God Unknown'. A reliably sprawling sound and all the more likeable for that, violinist Daniela Olano, sister of the band’s pianist Danae Olano, is also new in and has written 'Daniela’s Theme'. Playing With Fire highlights also include Mingus at the Bohemia (1956, Debut) piece 'Jump Monk,' a number you don't often find covered these days. But the Mingus Big Band ghost band certainly interpreted it as compellingly in the mid-1990s on Gunslinging Birds. Its rampaging clapping rhythm, vocalese and runaway sense of momentum give the new treatment a distinctive flavour and twist all of Maqueque's own derivation.