Steve Reid, the great Bronx drummer and bandleader, is back at it in the 21st century. Having begun his recording career with
Martha Reeves -- on "Dancing in the Street" no less! -- he has played with everyone from
Miles,
Fela ,
Sun Ra, and
Jackie McLean to
Dionne Warwick,
Dee Dee Bridgewater, and
James Brown. The fine Soul Jazz imprint from Great Britain reissued two of his celebrated albums from the 1970s --
Rhythmatism and
Nova -- earlier in the decade.
Reid, who now lives in Switzerland, was invited by the label to bring members of his own band to collaborate with some British jazz musicians and electronics man-machine
Kieran Hebden of
Four Tet. The players include four saxophonists, a bassist (who plays both standup and electric),
Hebden, and a keyboardist who plays everything from grand piano to Rhodes to Hammond B-3.
Reid is most certainly the anchor. Unlike one of his greatest influences,
Reid believes in the drums being the turnstile on which other musicians and listeners return. The centrality of a recognizable beat in these tunes is what ties their sometimes disparate elements together. This is what has always set
Reid apart from his peers on the kit. The set opens with "Lugano," a modal piece on which
Reid and bassist
John Edwards lay down a circular groove for the horns to play a strident head over, led by soprano saxophonist
Chuck Henderson, who takes his solo and moves the whole thing over into
Coltrane's "My Favorite Things" territory. As
Nathaniel Catchpole's guttural tenor solo takes fire,
Boris Netsvetaev's B-3 finds the seam and fills it. "Drum Story" may be
Reid's passion, but it doesn't really fit here as a nearly 15-minute solo with oratory.
Spirit Walk gets right back on track with "Bridget," a funky soul-jazz track with
Hebden laying out some truly loopy electronics over
Edwards' electric bass, layered over by soprano and bass saxophone playing counterpoint in a theme that is reminiscent of
Bill Cosby's cartoon program in the early '70s. This is heavy groove-conscious stuff that never leaves the jazz behind.