I just saw Randy Weston and Billy Harper in concert performing the music from this album and had to make sure the music was as good as I thought. It was.
These two legends basically get together and take you back to the real roots of jazz, which is the blues, which has its own root in Africa, and as Weston says, has its root in God. The pianist and tenor titan also take material that is the root of jazz, namely Ellington, bebop and Coleman Hawkins, and throw it into the stew for extra flavor. Thus, “Body and Soul” as a tribute to Coleman Hawkins is delivered with a roar from the Serengeti, while “How High The Moon” slithers like a Black Mambo. Weston’s own material such as “Blues To Africa” works on making music out of the rhythms and cadences of the continent, with a swaying trunk contrasting with the lumbering feet of the elephant. Harper’s solo outing on “If One Could Only See” cries into the night like a hyena, while Weston by himself is as quiet as a Nubian sunset on “Roots of the Nile.” More than anything else, the melding of the two masters of instruments feels like the sounds of an ancient prophet warning the congregation to return to whence they originally came. Not bad advice on a plethora of levels. Essential!
Sunnyside Records