Tony Allen, The Source, A Review (2017)

Tony Allen, The Source, A Review (2017)

By: Ghost Writer

Rock N Roll Animal

Tony Oladipo Allen, if you ask me, the best drummer in the world, legendary Afro Beat master Fela Kuti´s musical director, the man who along with Fela created afro beat out of high life and funk and helped it to become one of the most prominent musical sounds of the 70s, after Fela, Allen´s career has been quite prolific and contemporary, playing with other African legends like the great African music queen Oumou Sangare and British musical post-modernist Damon Albarn in the Good, The Bad & The Queen, Allen, a big fan of traditional jazz, recently issued a record in homage to the great Art Blakey, as a preparation for this record, The Source, Allen´s return to his great solo musical career, sometimes taking parts of the legendary Afro Beat, others immersing himself in traditional jazz and high life, always fighting to remain relevant, hanging along with some of the best French jazz musicians available, The Source is a record that reflects freedom, with Allen giving himself and company the chance to experiments with sounds, beats, instruments and all kind of ambitious arrangements, sometimes opening themselves to intriguing and engaging dialogues between Allen expressive drums and saxophonists Yann Jankielewicz, Rémi Sciuto and Jean-Jacques Elangue, great performers making opening track Wolf Eats Wolf and immediate classic thanks to a great rhythm section work and the enriching work of keyboardist Vincent Taurelle.

Tnoy´s Blues displays that unstoppable African flavor with Allen going into well-known places, his drumming like always goes beyond keeping a beat, he builds a beat and builds a solid rock bottom foundation widely dynamic and always challenging the other performers, here again on a duel with wild saxophones and with the piano brilliantly performed by Jean-Philipe Dary, and the always spider like guitar arrangements of afro beat, performed here by Cameroon guitarist Indy Dibongue, becoming here the perfect match for Allen´s African explorations, and a massive, powerful ending to the song, but things keep moving up in a wild way on the next song brilliantly titled On Fire, where bassist Mathias Allamane keeps a very tight rhythm interlocked with Allen, in full frontal crash, head first with pianist Dary, the sax lines, always intriguing will undoubtedly remind the listener about classic jazz, and giving the chance for trumpeter Nicolas Giraud to laid some Miles Davis like trumpet hair rising lines.

Don´t forget to check out those heavy bass lines by Allamane on the dirge like Woro Dance, an almost funerary piece, whose slow motion lets some extra detail be revealed allowing some brilliant playing to be appreciated in its full glory, and be prepared for a totally unexpected jazz freak out on Moody Boy, one of the most powerful pieces on the whole recording, featuring an enigmatic intro, almost mystical, and then a dive head first into the realm of really heavy, dirty funk, with the brass section in full attack, and some of the most innovative drum arrangements Allen has ever come up with, demonstrating that The Source is Allen´s most versatile and colorful record to date, a prodigy in sound, with the joyful aptly titled Push and Pull, the high reaching and vibrating Cruising, the almost nostalgic Bad Roads, closing up the record with the beautiful and evocative Life is Beautiful, this is undeniably Allen at its best, playing along with some of the best musicians in his life, and playing in a really free way, totally open to try some new things, always allowing himself to bring on some of his traditional jazz influences to the front, Allen keeps going on with his successful attempt to marry his African roots to the classic jazz that inspired him in his youth, The Source might be a clash of two different musical spirits, but Allen is a genius at combining them with pure will, power and talent, this is magical.