****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I had never heard of Mor Thiam until I bought the excellent "Spiritual Jazz" compilation last year, a collection billed as "Esoteric, Modal & Deep Jazz From the Underground 1968-77". The Mor Thiam cut on that CD, "Ayo Ayo Nene" was a propulsive mix of jazz and African rhythms, spiced by some great sax playing, lively percussion by Mor Thiam, and a hypnotic choir. Wanting to hear more music by this obscure but interesting musician from Senegal, I ordered this CD recently. I had high expectations, hoping to discover some un-mined musical gold, but I have to say that I was a bit disappointed overall.Mor Thiam is a singer, but his main claim to fame is his playing of the djembe, a bongo-like goblet-shaped drum. For my tastes, the djembe playing overwhelms too many songs on this album. Nearly half of the tracks are basically djembe workouts, or in some cases dueling djembes, as Mor Thiam and other djembe players do their bongo fury thing. Impressive musicianship on one hand, but listening to the barrage of percussion becomes a bit tedious too.Much more successful are the full band pieces, in which Mor Thiam adds his vocals (a pleasing voice that reminds me a bit of fellow Sengalese singing sensation Youssou N'Dour) to a musical stew of saxophone, Kora, and keyboards. On the album's closing track, "Meeting in Dakar," these sounds gel into one glorious whole. I only wish the rest of the album would have sounded so rich and satisfying.My reservations aside, Mor Thiam is obviously a very talented musician who deserves more attention. After his early recordings ("Ayo Aye Nene" was recorded in 1973) he played with the World Saxophone Quartet and later Don Pullen. After doing an online search I also was shocked to find that he is the father of R&B singer Akon.
