Juba
Express Yourself
© 2003 James A Manno (634479465826)
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Nephew of world famous Amiri Baraka, Juba collaborates with some of New Jersey's hottest R&B and Jazz musicians for a sensational multi-artistic listening poetic and musical experience.
tracks
- 1 Express Yourself
- 2 Nobody Dies
- 3 Flippin' Da Script
- 4 1972 Bc
- 5 The Beauty Of It All
- 6 We Had Nothing
- 7 Love On The Highway
- 8 On Every Corner
- 9 Lucero
- 10 The Palm At The End
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notes
Nephew of the world famous poet, playwright and Hollywood screenplay writer Amiri Baraka, Juba 's clever poetic style proves that talent runs in the family. Juba's urban charged wit and sensitivity keeps your ears wide verse 4 verse.
Collaborating with some of New Jersey's finest musicians and innovative producer James A. Manno, the "Express Yourself" album fuses R&B Funk, Jazz and even some World Music into a rich form of artistic expression. In other words, Street Jazz meets Spoken Word head on for a dynamically original listening and imaginative artistic experience.
Juba and his cousin Ras Baraka, consistently host an open mic poetry night called "Verse4Verse" in Newark, New Jersey. One summer night Juba invited producer James Manno to his first "Verse4Verse" show. Inspired by the poetic experience, Manno thought about composing tailor made music to match the rhythm, tone, feeling and sub-text of each individual poem a sort of modern day "tone poem" form of expression.
When Manno approached Juba with the concept of collaborating to do an album, Juba responded by saying, "Let's try out one poem and see what happens."
Days later at Jamman Productions Recording Studio, Manno recorded Juba reading the "Nobody Dies" poem. After a few readings and playbacks, Juba picked his favorite and said, "What now?". Manno replied, "You go home and I go to work."
A week later Manno called Juba back to the studio to play him the fully produced, with music, version of "Nobody Dies". Before pushing the play button it was obvious that both parties were curious to the see the other's reaction. At about the fourth bar of the music and second phrase of the poem Juba launched out of his chair with excitement! "This is awesome James!", exclaimed Juba. And the rest, as they say, is history.
reviews
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great background music to insightful and vibrant poetry
author: barbara mannoThe production and lyrics were outstanding and you all should go on the Oprah show and be discovered by millions who would enjoy your ideas.
An "A" for James A
author: Harris DemelIt's really good.
JAMMAN PRODUCTIONS has released a highly charged exposition of black senibility
author: John Hammel, WNTI Radio 91.9 F.M.By turns inquiring, angry, nostalgic, and hopeful, (although tinged with irony, never bitter), Juba Dowdell and James Manno have fused a richly diverse musical landscape of sinuous and insinuating poetry and music. All of the music was created by Mr. Manno based on the rhythmic flow of Mr. Dowdell's poetic craftsmanship. The music was created by "live" musicians in the studio and crackles with an urban energy of noirish jazz and hip hop textures tinged with James Brown and Sly Stone funk filtered through thirty plus years of drifting through the waters of George Clinton's Funkadelica and Prince's sexiness, even incorporating some of the spaciousness of Mile's Davis' hornwork as influeneced by his fusion work and later Warner Brothers albums. And the messages don't back down from a Public Enemy in your faceness. This record is "clean" linguistically, by today's outlandish standards, and the work is all the more powerful for it. It's messages come across that much more boldly and finely delineated with a stark frankness that is refreshing.