LOVE this
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I originally panned this recording, but after repeated listenings, it has grown on me and become one of my current favourites.
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Watts is pure fire! I love the energy. Tain,in my opinion is the heir apparent to Ancestor and master drummer Elvin Jones. Tain receives the torch past down to him adding his own intense  African poly-rhythmic sensibilities and imagination. Tain is a prolific composer. Jeff here has designed the perfect environment for his co-explorers to survey this creative landscape. 
I'm lovin it!
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Marsalis, McBride, Blanchard, and Watts- less like a jazz quartet, more like a meeting of the genre’s giants and royalty. On this album of  “sepia syncopations and social commentary,” they convene in order to give life to 10 original Watts compositions. The songs are as diverse as the players are skilled, morphing from fierce and feisty angular-bop melodies to slow, sultry swing, from tightly restrained second line and odd-metered funk grooves to dense explosions of chaotic improvisation. These tunes prove (as if we ever needed proof!) that Jeff “Tain” Watts is much, much more than just a masterful timekeeper.
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