Customer Reviews

Sign & Seal - Transmissions of Metaphysics Culture

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Steve Coleman's music is innovative and this CD does not let the listener down. His poly-rhythms, his sax phrasing and the interraction with his band members provides the new direction that so-called "Jazz" will go. His music blends music from many sources. You can listen over and over again and hear new things each time.

Steve Coleman, in his many manifestations, is an originator, and explorer. Whether in solo projects, Strata Institute, 5 Elements, The Mystic Rhythm Society, or as a sideman with others, Steve always pushes the envelope. He constantly reinvents himself, or at least seems like it. I'm biased cause I like his style of playing, reminds me of a reborn Ornette Coleman or Archie Shepp, but closer to 'downtown'. Although he's playing is very cognitive, he still brings it from the heart. That's hard to do. I guess the Maceo influence makes him more palpable, funkier, but to me it's much more far-reaching.
In this recording Steve is at the forefront but maintains a 'lower profile', letting the other musicians have their say. Smart, actually, when you have master and native musicians playing around you. The snare is a bit too loud in the mix (unfortunately typical of NY underground Jazz in the 90s!) but there's so much beauty and life here that nothing can stand in its way. The rhythms swing and sway, and the interplay between the voices and the instruments is heavenly. As you listen you just feel like you're being led through the wisdom of centuries, being enlightened by the sounds coming at you, through you.
If you like music, or Jazz, or Ethnic, or Explorative, this is the spiritual calling you've been searching for. All will be made clear in due time listening. The genius of this bandleader, and his wish to educate and give prominence to what would otherwise not be heard by many, is respectable and humbling.