Brother Ah - 1983 - Key to Nowhere

Brother Ah

1983

Key to Nowhere

01. Motherless Child (8:34)

02. Sekou (5:25)

03. Hanifah (5:49)

04. Key To Nowhere (4:19)

05. The Void (8:20)

06. Nature's Blues (3:39)

07. Celebration (3:44)

Brother Ah / flute, French horn, harmonica, nayamka, shell horn

Nataska Hasan Yousef / vocals, gong, finger cymbals

Nasar Abadey / berimbau, drums, percussion

Jeff majors /harp, mbiri

Marvin Tuten / guitar

Mike Bowie / acoustic & electric basses

Barbara Burton-Tuten, Valerie Yarborough / percussion

Recorded at Track Records, Silver Spring, Maryland on July 7, 1983

Ex Sun Ra band member Brother Ah back with an early 80's sensual, beautiful melodic and groovy album combining the best of buesy / jazz standards to classical "eastern" music, "exotic" acoustic instrumentations. "Motherless Child" is soul music, including a plaintive bluesy flavour sung by a powerful, melodic and tragic woman voice. The song is accompanied by an harp / flute duet. In "Sekou" , the traditional afro tendance of the band is more evident, featuring ethno percussions, funky bass lines. The title track expresses a the mellow fusion jazz side of the band, writting as a ballad with ravishing female vocals, afro grooves. Among their most accessible effort and not their best despite that is perfectly performed, with lot of passion and a good technical background. It's an important "world jazz" essay for collectors and could be a nice musical exploration for progressive fans.

Bob Northern, known professionally as Brother Ah, was known primarily as a French hornist, though he could play a multitude of instruments beautifully and The Washington Post rightly defines him a “synthesizer of sounds.” He died on May 31, aged 86. His interest in global rhythms led to some truly transcendental music, and he often fused it with his jazz formation and classical music education to produce a magically varied discography in the ’70s and ’80s. Key to Nowhere from 1983 is one of his standout albums, opening with a deeply affecting take on the traditional spiritual song “Motherless Child,” commonly heard during the Civil Rights movement in the United States. This version features vocals from Natasha Hasan Yousef, as well as an octet of musicians complete with a lush harp played by Jeff Majors.