Vocalist Gino Sitson doesn’t release an album very often, so when he does you’d better take notice. I saw him in concert at the old Jazz Bakery a number of years ago and couldn’t believe what this guy could make the human voice produce. He makes Bobby McFerrin and Al Jarreau look like amateurs with his mixture of sounds, pitches and atmospheres, and he can also sing a lyric or two, albeit in either French or a local Cameroon dialect.
Here, he teams up with Helio ALves/p, Lonnie Plaxico/b, Willard Dyson/dr and Lev Zhurbin/viola for a stunning mix and match of jazz, African and classical that brings out the best in all three. Highly hip and bopping pieces like “Nda Yahwe” and “Katcha” mix fun beats that swing with Sitson’s high pitched voice that sounds like chirps from the Equatorial jungle. His voice has an inherent cheerfulness along with folksy riffs supplied by the strings on “Bulwayo Xmas” and on the reflective “Beu nen.” Alves’ piano is delicate and dainty while Sitson does lead vocals, backing vocals and vocal effects on the charming “Genau” while you might wonder what Bach might have sounded like if he grew up in Africa on a rich “Suite For John.” Thoughtful and expressive chants supply a frame on “Timeless Mood” and a transcendental read of Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage” mixes strings, percussion and palpably rich voices to make you feel like you’ve set sail along the Congo River. The melding of sounds from voice and instruments on “VoiStrings” and “VoCello” sounds like a gift from God on high, and if anyone is using his talents as if they were loaned to him from on High, it’s this gentleman. Don’t let this one pass you by.
Buda Records