Customer Reviews

Nuit Africaine

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To hear Randy Weston play is to feel the joy of song bursting
into flight, the sounds of a people walking tall, deep in
thought swaying in the sweep of a righteous word. The word
is Truth; its voice, Music.
Among the many highlights in the career of this African
American grandmaster of the acoustic piano, his solo
recordings are among the finest ever conceived. NUIT
AFRICAINE, an Enja recording from the 1970s, is a
standout performance. Striking deep with the power of
aesthetic conviction, armed with a touch which calls
for the thunder and takes it to the groove, Weston is
a dynamic Blues shaper; his instrumentality always
swinging, ever singing.

His wondrous lyricism merges the seemingly atonal
and the relentlessly tonal into a broader, beguiling,
more comprehensive song which sits still for no one.
Further denoting Weston's aesthetic kinship with Duke
Ellington, Herbie Nichols and Thelonious Monk, his supple
application of African tempo and nuance within African
American imperative stakes his claim as one of the
great innovators of the past half-century. Add to this
Weston's peerless hand as a composer of hauntingly
beautiful melodies, and you begin to wonder why
Randy Weston is not more widely acknowledged as
the major artistic power that he truly is.

All this comes together in one highly sweet presentation.
Listen to the playful scampering of "Little Niles" (for
son Azzedin), the oncoming sashay of "Jejouka", or the
earthy regality of "Blues To Senegal" and you will know
the wonder of a master at work. Healing souls as he works
the most serious of substantial sorceries, Weston is the
timeless griot spinning the tales of the world, inviting
our presence and participation in the forging of a finer
chapter.

NUIT AFRICAINE. Daybreak beckons.
The sun is smiling.