Olu Dara
Neighborhoods (Atlantic)
An avant-garde trumpeter of note on the NYC jazz scene since the Seventies, Olu Dara’s first solo effort was an unexpected bit of loose and locomotive country blues, a musical journey from the Natchez of his youth to the New York of his now, with stops in Memphis, Detroit, and West Africa to boot. Simple yet sophisticated, 1998’s In the World was a breath of fresh air, an album that paid homage to African-American folk traditions without sounding like a stale imitation of the same. Neighborhoods offers a second helping, serving up Dara’s trademark mix of rural groove and lyrical come-what-may, songs about love, cinema, and fruit trees building over a gentle blend of riverine funk and artful improvisation. While the liner notes are filled with images of Dara embracing his guitar, his contributions on Neighborhoods are as writer, singer, strummer, hornman, and all-around griot, while the best fretwork comes courtesy of Kwatei Jones-Quartey, whose cyclical style and percolating sense of rhythm lend the album a more African quality than its predecessor. Those new to Dara might do better with In the World; Neighborhoods has neither the cool, crisp smack of innovation nor a single as supremely satisfying as World’s “Your Lips Are Juicy.” But those who have been wearing In the World will find Neighborhoods a satisfying return to the groove-filled fields of Dara’s musical mind.
This article appears in June 8 • 2001.