Album Notes

David Lynch, The Austin Chronicle, writes on March 17, 2001...

'The results are like nothing the planet has ever heard, thumb-piano-driven polyryhthms blended with avant-jazz melodicism. African and African-American music across time and space.' The Austin Chronicle

Lyn Horton, Jazzreview.com, writes about Dreams and Secrets, CD of the week, May 1, 2001 'With a driving guitar solo begins a startling collaboration between Wadada Leo Smith and Thomas Mapfumo... these two musicians/composers have produced an exquisite CD called DREAMS AND SECRETS. Cross cultural in nature, the music recorded herein brightens the spirit and revivifies the soul... Smith cries out with the brilliance of his trumpet and Mapfumo shapes his soft sung lyrics as only he can... sometimes the trumpet and Mapfumo sing together. See the review itself at JazzReview.com

The Global Village Idiot says this: The result are enough to blow off several roofs. The mbiras offer a firmly, fluid base for some roaring explorations, ... It's a remarkably happy meeting, each side pushing the other a bit further, and when Mapfumo does appear, his voice offers calmness and yet another direction to the sound. Yes, this requires an open mind, but it's more than worth the listen - and the chance to pick your jaw off the floor later. The Global Village Idiot

Bruce Rogers, of Explore Kansas City writes:
Dreams and Secrets is a transcendental experience; abstract, metaphysical and wonderfully rhythmic. Smith's trumpet playing is mesmerizing... Mapfumo is known as a chimurenga master and revered for keeping Zimbabwe's music of struggle alive. Teamed with Smith and his soaring trumpet, Mapfumo and the Blacks Unlimited add multilayered rhythms pushed along by a host of percussion sounds, sometimes linked to a understated bass line or murdering speed guitar. Everything seems to be here free-form jazz, island music, African rhythms of hope and struggle, funk grooves, raging rock psychedelic guitar, crisp horns all in an interplay creating beautiful, great music. Explore Kansas City

Thank you kindly to David Byrne, who invited Thomas to perform after his show on Mar. 17 at SXSW, La Zona Rosa.

Open to the spirit, find the African inside of you.