Friday, June 24, 2005

Soweto's sweet

Soweto Kinch and friends rap on a few cuts on "Conversations With the Unseen" and I have to say I'm still looking for a good example of melding hip-hop and jazz. Some of what he does is interesting I think, including an interlude that kind of mixes rap and jazz singing. But I doubt it's very good rap and I know it's not great jazz.

What I also know is that Soweto Kinch is one heck of a fine young saxophone player, which is mostly what he does here. The guys with him (including Femi Temowo on guitar, Michael Olatuja on bass and Troy Miller on drums) are all excellent as well.

Buy "Conversations With the Unseen" for the instrumental jazz, which is among the most exciting I've heard on disk this year, and give Kinch credit for trying with the rapping. I'm betting that with his obvious musical talent he finds a way to make it work better in the future.

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