Nu Blaxploitation [Explicit Lyrics, Import]

Don Byron | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 28, 1998)
• Original Release Date: July 28, 1998
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics, Import
• Label: EMI Import
• ASIN: B000009EA8
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #303,500 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

At the tail end of Don Byron's liner notes and lyrics from this genre-bending CD, the clarinetist notes that "The evasion of civil, focused discussions of racial issues is, in itself, a form of racism." Indeed, Nu Blaxploitation extends the frontal approach to African American history and the history of race in the United States that Byron took on his debut CD, Tuskegee Experiments. Performance poet Sadiq was also on board for Byron's debut, and now, after four wide-ranging, pan-stylistic jazz recordings, Byron returns with Sadiq for a session that's part street theater, part satire, and many parts steamy post-bebop avant-funk jazz. Byron's clarinet plays an often secondary role to Sadiq's ruminations, and a phenomenally soulful guest appearance by Biz Markie. But when Byron's playing, he's all over the horn, blowing off-kilter highs and cloudy lows. Byron nods to the past in many ways here, from dedicating the CD to early black rock pioneers Mandrill to taking on seemingly textbook blaxploitation dialogue for lyrical material. All in all, this is surely Byron's most challenging work, but it's all in the manner that Boogie Down Production leader KRS-ONE described years ago as "edutainment." --Andrew Bartlett

Product Description

Nu Blaxploitation

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Saying it loud and keeping it real, July 28, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Nu Blaxploitation (Audio CD)

An excellent new album by a musician who has found an innovative and original voice in the era of backwards-looking jazz. The album's extreme creativity that at once remains firmly steeped in the tradition of radical black music essentially makes jazz and funk once again relevant. Don Byron and Existential Dred keep it real.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Ephiphany..Period., June 28, 2008

By 

MYSTR Treefrog "Mystr Treefrog Art Critic" (D.C.) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Nu Blaxploitation (Audio CD)

Nu Blaxploitation is genius in the warm glow of collaberation. Those who critisize Do Byron because he wouldn't shut up and play his horn have ENTIRELY missed the point of this piece. Sometimes listeners hate "their" artists mixing thought and opinion with aural frequencies. Guess what? Musicians are not wallpaper. When I first heard the Byron treatment of " If 6 were 9" I stopped my car in rush hopur traffic,pulled to the side and listened in rapt amazement. MANGO MEAT is monsterous! If you don't want to hear the snippets of conversation, thats OK..just press fast forward..but to show respect for the WHOLE artist..LISTEN...thats all...just LISTEN. And TRANCEND.I, for one, have been evolved by this music and layering of thought music the power of humor and musical vision.
May The Purists be Damned.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Thought Provoking, August 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Nu Blaxploitation (Audio CD)

Don Byron's latest album could be unfairly pidgeon-holed as a jazz album but it is really the thoughts of a global intellectual using music and spoken word as his outlet.

At times "Nu Baxploition" seems rather unfocussed and rambled, but it is actually securely centered in dealing with global oppressions and bringing discrimination, especially in its race based manifestations, into our at times shaded eyes.

His ability to mix contempoary issues with his jazz infusions make Don Byron and the Existential Dred a force to be reckoned with in the social change arena. I pray enough people listen to this CD and are taken, intelectually and emotionally, to some of the places that this collection took me. Check out "Morning 97 (Dodi)" and reflect on the real horror and disappointment surrounding the death of Princess Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed.

Don Byron is one deep individual; sometimes so deep that he might lose a lot of us in shallow waters.