Liner Notes

An artist deserving of wider recognition

Saxophonist/Flutist/Composer T.K. Blue's (also known as Talib Kibwe) musical exploits, on the bandstand and in the recording studio, shout and scream artist deserving wider recognition. He is among a class of seasoned, vital and potent jazz artists who straddle the fence between emerging and veteran talent. Having grown up in New York City of West Indian parentage, and prepped primarily with the great Randy Weston and his African heritage-proud sensibility, T.K. comes steeped in a global sense of jazz. Bathed in post-bebop, Blue leavens that foundation with a broad sense of melody, rhythm and harmony that reflects his many travels and auspicious stopovers on the road to jazz mastery which he is most assuredly traveling.

That this disc represents only his second major U.S. release is not a dominant frustration for such a skilled and seasoned artist as one might imagine. Blessed with an iron will that reflects true perseverance, and an affable disposition that has served him well on the bandstand and in the classroom, T.K. Blue is nothing if not patient, believing that all in good time is an apt watchword for stress-free living. As Blue's alto saxophone grandfather, Charlie Parker, was heard to exclaim many a night: Now's the time! Leave it to a label like Arkadia Jazz, which has launched its foundation on seasoned veterans deserving of such recording opportunities, to seize upon such an obvious candidate as T.K. Blue, formerly known as Talib Kibwe.

A graduate of New York's storied Jazzmobile training program, T.K.'s ongoing tenure as music director of Randy Weston's masterful forays in jazz truth has long been the cornerstone of Blue's career. Prior to his successful kinship with Weston, T.K. gained a good sense of the globe as a member of Abdullah Ibrahim's ensemble. Ibrahim not only offered Blue the experience of learning and performing jazz with a viewpoint beyond these shores, his band enabled T.K. to taste the fruits of several nations, including dream sojourns to African countries. Realizing the world doesn't begin and end in New York City, Blue sought to further slake his thirst for life beyond these shores when he emigrated to Paris in 1982. Coupled with his previous trips to Africa, life in such a font of international culture further stoked Blue's interest in the motherland.

In 1985 T.K. developed his first recording unit, T.K. Odyssey, and in 1989 the band successfully lobbied for a State Department tour of eight East African countries. So enthusiastic was the African response to T.K. Odyssey that the band was further engaged to extend the tour into ten West African countries that took them into 1990. Yet a third State Department sojourn touched on Morocco, a place also of special importance to Randy Weston and his music.

As a sideman T.K Blue (known as Talib Kibwe) has toiled on the bandstands of a varied list of musicians, ranging from Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath to bluesman Johnny Copeland, from Manu Dibango to Kenny Clarke, to composers Hale Smith and Sam Rivers. T.K.'s most recent discography ranges from Weston's superb '98 release Khepera, to work with such emerging artists as percussionist Norman Hedman and singer Jeffrey Smith. Besides his work with Weston, Blue's most extensive ongoing tenure is as music director, arranger and composer with the Spirit of Life Ensemble, a unit which lives up to its lofty moniker each and every Monday evening at Manhattan's Sweet Basil. Blue has been a key contributor to the last two Spirit of Life efforts, Collage, and Live at Pori Jazz Festival. Introducing Talib Kibwe was T.K.'s first major stateside debut, released in 1996 on the Evidence label.

Which brings us to this splendidly varied new effort for Bob Karcy's budding Arkadia label. T.K. BLUE: Another Blue is blessed with contributions from skillful artists from numerous of T.K.'s shared bandstands, resourcefully engaged by the leader over twelve selections that might more aptly be dubbed episodes, since each tells its own story. The musicians include such notables as the explosive drummer Cecil Brooks III, the marvelous Brazilian percussionist Guilherme Franco, the dexterous piano work of Michael Cochrane, Onaje Allan Gumbs, and longtime partner James Weidman, trumpeter Eddie Henderson, and bassists Calvin Hill and Santi DeBriano. New names of note who contribute their talents to Blue's efforts include guitarist Lenny Argese, flugelhornist Tony Branker, drummer Greg Bufford, and trombonist Bob Ferrel, a name to especially look out for. Rounding out the cast is a cameo conversation with Randy Weston on A Night In Tunisia, T.K.'s tribute to the honor of working with Dizzy on Weston's touchstone release Spirits of Our Ancestors.

Despite the fact that record companies have been so late and slept so long on T.K. Blue's talents, he doesn't use this opportunity to hog the spotlight. Neatly balancing his efforts on alto and soprano saxes and flutes, Blue has put together a pungent program of music. As any insightful bandleader would, he varies the instrumentation, thus breathing fresh air into his arrangements from track to track. He also modifies the order and length of solos, exhibiting a keen sense of programming, never allowing a malaise to set in, each track representing a cohesive and varied element of his musical outlook. These insights can only come with seasoning and maturity, characteristics that are key to where T.K. Blue stands in 1999.

The opener, a Tony Branker original aptly titled Chant for Peace Eternal, is flavored by a full horn section that broadens Branker's harmonic writing, exhibiting a spiritual side of his composing work. Written for Tony's favorite uncle who passed on to ancestry, Blue suggests that "With all the wars, death and affliction in the world today, eternal peace is the only viable option." Track two, This Is For Albert, illustrates that Blue's is another of the many cups quaffing from the rich mineral waters of the river that is Wayne Shorter, whom he enthusiastically labels "....one of my favorite composers of all time." T.K.'s keening, joyous soprano sax shouts to the rooftops, achieving an infectious state of controlled passion, with well-deserved fours for the always hard-driving Cecil Brooks III, and kudos to Santi's fluid bass work.

Evening Prayer is a thoughtful homage to peace and blessings from the creator, laden with the rich harmony of flugelhorn, trombone, and flute in the ensemble passages. Ferrel's dark 'bone tones are deeply satisfying, as is Michael Cochrane's bell tones on piano. Hallucinations, a testament to the small but potent stock of tunes left by piano master Bud Powell, finds T.K. Blue back on flute, recalling Rahsaan Roland Kirk's sound. Its a straight up & down quartet swinger featuring a short essay from James and Cecil. In this age of songbook tributes, Blue has high hopes of recording an entire CD of Powell's gems, homage long overdue. Illustrating that the color blue is of varied hues.

Another Blue is a wistful, melancholy shade of azure, a bit of an alto saxophone lament from T.K.'s pen. James Weidman's arrangement injects fresh air into the tried and true chestnut You Go To My Head, which fired many a Charlie Parker session, though Blue cites the Clifford Brown and Lee Morgan recordings of the tune as his principle inspirations. While Its Really All About Love offers further illustration of the long and intimate musical kinship between Blue and Weidman. The arrangement is capped by a lovely coda where Franco's gentle percussion and Argese's guitar augment the cast. The medium tempo duet with Weston on Night in Tunisia is keyed by Randy's dark chords, which dominate the action in an understated way. The relationship between these two men is deep and palpable and there is a seamless quality in the way they interact.

Crossings is a paean to Blue's ancestral middle passage, written following one of his numerous trips to the motherland. Here his alto is pensive, though up to its usual urgent and insistent qualities. Pileau, named for a staple rice and peas dish of Trinidad, literally shouts 'let's go to the islands' with its entrancing lilt. Miles Davis' familiar line Solar is delivered on alto and is further evidence of T.K.'s penchant for hot sauce swing, his soaring alto getting knee deep into the spirit of the moment with Eddie Henderson on trumpet. The closer, Shades of Bahia, take us down Brazil way with Franco's birimbao offering up a neat intro and his miscellaneous percussion exploits lending the proper spirit of samba.

Throughout this ebullient album, and on whatever bandstand you are lucky enough to find T.K. Blue, his tunes and horns offer a sense of stories to tell, journeys to reflect on, passions to manifest. And he injects those same winning qualities into the music of the other composers represented on this disc.

By Willard Jenkins
for Arkadia Jazz