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Dreams and Secrets by Thomas Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited/Wadada Leo Smith
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fave it World Fusion | Acid Jazz
12 tracks | 72 minutes
Released Feb 2005
on aNOnym reCOrds
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- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 02:19 Dreams - New Delta Blues lyrics BUY MP3 02:19 Dreams - New Delta Blues lyrics "GIFT MP3" 02:19 Dreams - New Delta Blues
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 10:36 Regai Tione/Jealousy lyrics BUY MP3 10:36 Regai Tione/Jealousy lyrics "GIFT MP3" 10:36 Regai Tione/Jealousy
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 05:44 South Central LA lyrics BUY MP3 05:44 South Central LA lyrics "GIFT MP3" 05:44 South Central LA
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 01:35 Secrets - New Delta Blues lyrics BUY MP3 01:35 Secrets - New Delta Blues lyrics "GIFT MP3" 01:35 Secrets - New Delta Blues
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 06:10 Big in America lyrics BUY MP3 06:10 Big in America lyrics "GIFT MP3" 06:10 Big in America
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 07:57 Lamar and N'Dasia Steppin' lyrics BUY MP3 07:57 Lamar and N'Dasia Steppin' lyrics "GIFT MP3" 07:57 Lamar and N'Dasia Steppin'
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 09:45 Masimba/The Strength to Overcome lyrics BUY MP3 09:45 Masimba/The Strength to Overcome lyrics "GIFT MP3" 09:45 Masimba/The Strength to Overcome
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 07:16 Anoa's Prophecy lyrics BUY MP3 07:16 Anoa's Prophecy lyrics "GIFT MP3" 07:16 Anoa's Prophecy
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 01:39 The Zambezi River lyrics BUY MP3 01:39 The Zambezi River lyrics "GIFT MP3" 01:39 The Zambezi River
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 10:08 Marimuka/Collecting my Father's Wealth lyrics BUY MP3 10:08 Marimuka/Collecting my Father's Wealth lyrics "GIFT MP3" 10:08 Marimuka/Collecting my Father's Wealth
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 00:56 The Mississippi River lyrics BUY MP3 00:56 The Mississippi River lyrics "GIFT MP3" 00:56 The Mississippi River
- sample lyrics "DOWNLOAD" 08:02 Epic Memory lyrics BUY MP3 08:02 Epic Memory lyrics "GIFT MP3" 08:02 Epic Memory
Voted one of the Best CDs of 2001 in the following publications JazzIz Magazine, #7 Best World Music CDs The Beat Magazine. #74 on Village Voice's Dean's List of 2001 #50 on WYSO, Ohio NPR #92 on the World Music Charts of Europe #18
Editorial review
Avant-garde trumpet and flugelhorn player Wadada Leo Smith and chimurenga vocalist Thomas Mapfumo may seem like an odd pairing. Indeed, the differences between their respective styles are apparent on this album; Mapfumo and his band, Blacks Unlimited, sound relaxed and upbeat -- they even approach middle-of-the-road pop on "Big in America" -- while Smith and his band, N'Da Kulture, sound more venturesome and abrasive, particularly during some of Smith's trumpet solos and the dissonant guitar workouts by Henry Kaiser and Woody Lee Aplanalp. Smith and guitarist Henry Kaiser collaborated before on Yo, Miles!, which paid homage to the '70s fusion work of Miles Davis, and they continue in a similar musical vein on Dreams & Secrets; this time, however, they perform Smith's original compositions instead of Davis covers, work with a different set of musicians, and don't stretch their ideas out as thinly. They do seem to dominate the proceedings since Thomas Mapfumo wrote only four of the album's 12 tracks (and three of the four were co-written with Smith); nonetheless, Blacks Unlimited help give this album a lighter, richer, and more textured sound, and the musicians more than hold their own. For example, Zivani Wilberforce Masanga's mastery of the trumpet is particularly evident on "Big in America." When the two groups of musicians come together and both seem to be contributing, the results are magical, such as when Smith soars through Black Unlimited's precisely arranged horn lines near the end of "Regai Tione/Jealousy." But when they don't quite gel or Blacks Unlimited seems to contribute relatively little -- for example, "Epic Memory" -- the results are more pedestrian. ~ Todd Kristel, All Music Guide
Bio / Background
David Lynch, The Austin Chronicle, writes on March 17, 2001...
'The results are like nothing the planet has ever heard, thumb-piano-driven polyryhthms blended with avant-jazz melodicism. African and African-American music across time and space.' The Austin Chronicle
Lyn Horton, Jazzreview.com, writes about Dreams and Secrets, CD of the week, May 1, 2001 'With a driving guitar solo begins a startling collaboration between Wadada Leo Smith and Thomas Mapfumo... these two musicians/composers have produced an exquisite CD called DREAMS AND SECRETS. Cross cultural in nature, the music recorded herein brightens the spirit and revivifies the soul... Smith cries out with the brilliance of his trumpet and Mapfumo shapes his soft sung lyrics as only he can... sometimes the trumpet and Mapfumo sing together. See the review itself at JazzReview.com
The Global Village Idiot says this: The result are enough to blow off several roofs.
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