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Iv’s A Sin To Be Rich: key Texas blues musician Lightnin’
Hopkins in a 1972 Los Angeles session.

Lighini

IGHTNIN’ STRIKES;
Oil burns; jazz and hip
hop are fused.
Lightnin’ Hopkins — it’s A Sin
To Be Rich, Polydor/PolyGram
France 1992

This one surfaces for the first
time about 20 years after it was
recorded. ;

Texas bluesman Sam. L.
Hopkins, a key figure who brought
the folk tradition of blues into a
more urban context, put out a ses-
sion with John Lee Hooker and
friends in Los Angeles in 1972.

Save for stints with people like
Sonny Terry, Big joe Williams and
Brownie McGhee, Hopkins mostly
recorded solo.

Hopkins’ quirk of moving chord
changes when it suits him rather
than when the convention of the
blues form demands it makes for
some confused catch-up moments
on the part of the musicians at-
-tempting to keep pace with him
here.

Hopkins raps about his pal
Howlin’ Wolf and other matters
between the tracks.

The Rehearsal (for It’s A Sin To
Be Rich) precedes it’s A Sin To Be
Rich, It’s A Low-Down Shame To
Be Poor.

Sometimes Hooker is miked,
sometimes he jumps in with
counter riffs off-mike from some-
where in the room.

If you enioy your blues rough at
the edges, this collection of loose
and friendly bourbon-powered
jams will appeal.

Midnight Oil — Earth And Sun
“And Moon, Sony Music 1993

The Aussie rock voice of a world
abused returns with another pow-
erful set.

Earth And Son And Moonis a
strident wake-up call to action and
a change of heart. We have been
greedy. We have grabbed more
than nature can give. Our nation
states have been oppressive ideas.
We have not walked gently upon
this earth.

The proselytizing would quickly

 stril

Michaei Becker
RECORD REVIEW

become tiresome in less talented
hands. Direct language and nitro-
glycerine-intense delivery keeps
everything in orbit.

Clattering Oil gives us a
thoughtful head and for that one
must be greatful.

Guru ~ Jazzmatazz Volume 1,
Chrysalis Records 1993

The host of the program, Guru
{gifted unlimited rhymes universal)
tells us this is an experimental fu-
sion of hip hop and jazz.

The fusion has been attempted
with success by hip hop groups
like Soul 1] Soul and Dream War-
tiors.

On the jazz front, Miles Davis
worked with rapper Easy Mo Be
on his last effort, Doo Bop.

if what Max Roach believes is
true, that hip hop is truly the child
of be-bop, then Jazzmatazz ad-
vances a strong case for a new
kind of music.

This fertile hybrid reaches a
higher plane by the strength of the
sophisticated musicians assembled
for this project.

Among those in the house:
Donald Byrd, a trumpeter with the
original Art Blakey's Jazz Messen-
gers; N’Dea Davenport, the voice
of Brand New Heavies; Branford
Marsalis, saxophonist and leader
for Jay Leno’s Tonight Show band;
British jazz guitarist Ronny Jordan;
L:A. vibraphonist Roy Ayers;
French rapper MC Solaar; British
saxophonist Courtney Pine.

Elegant vibes and strong social
messages conspire to make this
one a winner,

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564501 3.4.8 kg.

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17TH AND LONSDALE, NORTH VANCOUVER

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