Here we have the latest release from Brooklyn-based percussionist, drummer, vocalist, composer and bandleader Eric Frazier. His main instrument on this album is congas and while there is a core band of Gene Ghee (tenor, soprano sax), Wayne Jeffrey (guitar), Mamiko Watanbe (keyboards) and John Cooksey (drums) there are also some different musicians on different tracks. As one would expect from a band leader coming from a percussive background that has a major impact on the overall music which follows a mostly jazz pattern while also bringing in some African roots.
It is very dance based but feels like an album out of time as if it should have been released at the end of the Seventies as it would have fitted in well with the disco scene of the time with the middle of the road sound and little in the way of drama or edge. It doesn’t take long for the listener to start to wonder just how much longer it has to go on as in many ways this is quite cloying with little freshness or life. I really didn’t understand this style of music when it was popular forty plus years ago, and I certainly don’t understand it now, but once upon a time this was one of the most popular forms of modern music around and with its heavy dance and groove there may well be a place for it in 2024. Just not in my collection.
Rating: 6/10
