Hailed by The New York Times as "a state-of-the-art musical thinker with a reputation for sure-footed futurism," and "one of the transforming figures of 21st-century jazz" by The Guardian, saxophonist/composer Steve Lehman has built a career creating innovative new music that packs the visceral wallop of live performance. Acclaimed for his groundbreaking work of melding spectral harmonies with modern jazz, he was voted the "#1 Rising Star Jazz Musician" in the 2015 Downbeat International Critics Poll and his prior album Mise en Abîme the #1 Album of the Year in the NPR Jazz Critics Poll. Lehman continues his boundary-breaking work in a different vein with Sélébéyone. The powerful new album draws from modern jazz, the rapping of Senegalese artist Gaston Bandimic, the underground hip-hop of HPrizm (aka High Priest of Antipop Consortium) and live electronics to create a dynamic form of urban experimentalism. Shifting rhythms, otherworldly electro-acoustic harmonies, contemporary sound design, and vocal gymnastics abound. And rather than simply co-existing and accommodating one another, the lyrical and the musical elements of Sélébéyone are entirely integrated in exciting new ways. Add to that the unique juxtaposition of English and Wolof and one senses the unveiling of an entirely new musical realm.
Gaston Bandimic raps in the Wolof language with an urgent conviction, incomprehensible to me and you (I expect). HPrizm uses English, ...but what's he on about? While those guys dominate the album, there's plenty of Steve Lehman's rhythmic experiment, lunatic sax tunes and odd harmonies on show, along with plenty of out there synth sounds and intricate beats to keep it all going. Altogether the impression is that it all means something, like it's following the plot of of some kind of sci-fi movie and the whole thing hangs together really well as an album. Bought as a 'wild card' choice based on my enjoyment of Lehman's other releases, but turned out to be a favourite of the moment.
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