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Adriano Adewale Group

Sementes

Segue Records SEGCD0801

Attempting to define ­ or, more properly, to discourage others from arbitrarily and inaccurately labelling ­ his music, Sao Paulo-born percussionist Adriano Adewale says: ‘My music relates to “world music” in the sense that it has been composed in different countries and is influenced by different traditions.

There are also elements of the jazz art form on this album, mainly in the strong sense of freedom, which can only be fully understood and felt when the players are not trying to create the moment but when the music is allowed to grow out of their hands.’

This statement perfectly describes the music on this, his band’s debut album (the title means ‘seeds’), which features Senegalese kora player Kadialy Kouyate, Brazilian saxophonist/flautist Marcelo Andrade, Australian bassist Nathan Thomson and guest appearances from producer Gilad Atzmon (clarinet, accordion) and guitarist Antonio Forcione (with whom Adewale frequently plays).

Adewale’s compositions are, unsurprisingly, strongly rhythmic in conception, frequently involve his own vocal contributions, and range from languorous lopes, over which Kouyate’s kora shimmers and scintillates, to more vigorous material in which Andrade’s horns or flute and the pleasingly abrasive clarinet of Atzmon are tellingly employed.

The guest presences, indeed, with their slightly more urgent feel, provide a useful complement to the more easy-going approach of the regular band members, and overall this is an album that, although superficially gentle on the ear, reveals more powerful felicities on repeated exposure.