Music From The Heart of the Masters by Jack DeJohnette & Foday Musa Suso

06 Mar

Written by Mark Keresman
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Jack DeJohnette joins the league of artist-run labels & starts out releasing a couple of discs most "major labels" would likely deem a tad "risky." [Their loss, I say.] One is Music In The Key of Om, a disc of soothing/ambient synthesizer drones -- the other, Music From the Heart.... finds DeJohnette (drums) in a lovely set of interactive duets with African kora (a large lute-like instrument) wizard Foday Musa Suso (who’s played with Philip Glass and Herbie Hancock, among others). As much as JDeJ brings the jazz tradition, FMS brings the contemplative, modal-sounding folk traditions from his native Gambia - DeJohnette brings a joyous, crisp, restrained crackle to the proceedings, and it plays wonderfully with/against the sparkling, dancing, harp-like tones of Suso. Jazz? African? World Fusion? When a disc like this draws you & gets you blissfully lost in its elegant yet earthy swirl, who cares? Three thumbs up!