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Following in the wake of Seun Kuti’s latest From Africa With Fury: Rise, Franco-Vietnam Nguyên Lê’s seventh album for ACT neatly follows the magic of Saiyuki and the ‘Best Of’, Signature Edition 1.

That said, this is a different kind of magic (sorry Freddie). The title is taken from Bob Marley (who’s died 30 years ago today!) and the 15 songs interpreted by Lê are his tribute to the legends of the 70s who created some of the most long standing and popular songs for the world; as Lê says, “so global that they have truly become World Music”.

And he’s right on both counts as these are the big tunes, The Beatles ‘Eleanor Rigby’ and ‘Come Together’, Led Zeppelin’s ‘Black Dog’ and ‘Whole Lot Of Love’, Stevie Wonder’s ‘I Wish’ and Marley’s ‘Redemption Song’ to name just some of the highlights.

Electric guitarist Lê and his core band, Illya Amar (vibraphone, marimba, computer), Linley Marthe (electric bass/vocals) and Stéphane Galland (drums) with a host of guests to give each track a full production treatment they deserve.

It’s quite an ask to do something innovate with such well known songs but if you’ve got any doubts, and I must admit I wasn’t’ too sure to start with, the first stop in the incredible Bollywood Indo-rock of ‘I Wish’ with the soulful vocals of David Linx. Linx also gets the lead vocals on a Janis Joplin track, ‘Move Over’ and thankfully he gives it more of a jazz interpretation rather than an Joplin interpretation which perfectly fits David Binney’s Nu-troop style sax and together with Lê and the vibes, there’s a hint of 70s Zappa (shame he didn’t pick some Zappa).

And who’d have thought Youn Sun Nah would sing ‘Whole Lotta Love’? Well, it’s not that much of a surprise as she did a few classy covers on her last album Same Girl and she starts pretty leftfield before she gets into full Robert Plant mode, but like ‘Move Over’, the tabla of Prahhu Edouard and the vibes gets us into an Indo-Zappa world, especially when Lê lets rip (a la weasel ‘n’ flesh) and Dhafer Youssef on ‘Black Dog’ is awesome; Lê is a rock god on axe and Galland in Bonham guise (fantastic vibe sub plot).

So with this in mind, not sure what happened to ‘Pastime Paradise’. It’s an original take on a Wonder classic but a bit hit and miss; there’s definitely an killer edit in here somewhere (phone up Theo Parrish) but until then, stick with Ray Barretto and Coolio for the more obvious approaches. And on this tip, I’ve never liked Joplin’s ‘Mercedes Benz’ for reasons too dull to go into (and I really hate the lyrics) but with llya and Keyvan Chemirani (on zarb) saves it; would have been a great instrumental as Lê gets into a Hendrix-esque bandanna solo.

And ‘Redemption Song’ isn’t my favourite Marley song but Youn Sun Nah gets the emotion and the poetry just right. And another that I’ve never been keen on is Cream’s ‘Sunshine Of Your Love’ but with the Indo percussion and marimba makes it even more 60s than the original?

Do we know Doug Ingle’s ‘In A Gadda da Vida’? In short, no but as this one is just interpreted by the band, lets hope there’s more of this style to come.(Galland very good on drums here).

‘Come Together’ ends the set with a quarto of vocalists, Ousman Danedjo, Linx, Julia Sarr and Himiko Paganotti, and whilst my favourite cover versions of this one are by the Cassandra Wilson and Diane Reeves collaboration and the Cerritos Jazz- Rock Ensemble’s version unearthed a couple of years ago (see School Me) but this is a comfortable bronze medal award for its funkiness if nothing else.

If you’ve got as many hang ups about the 70s/popular music as me, there’s going to be inevitable highs and lows on this CD. However, if you’re open to Indo-jazz rock fusions, this album is very much a grower with the added bonus that Lê is still the most exciting guitar player on the planet at the moment, llyer Amar is my new vibe hereo and clearly we need to hear lots more of Linx and Dhafer Youssef.

Hectic Mix nominations: ‘I Wish’ (played at Jazz Chronicles 7th May and it turned heads), ‘Black Dog’, ‘In A Gadda da Vida’, ‘Move Over’. ‘Come Together’

Reviewed: Nguyên Lê - Songs Of Freedom (ACT) Cat. No. ACT 9506-2 Release date: May 2011
Tracklisting:
01. Eleanor Rigby (7:02)
02. I Wish (5:45)
03. Ben Zeppelin (0:51)
04. Black Dog (6:20)
05. Pastime Paradise (8:01)
06. Uncle Ho’s Benz (0:40)
07. Mercedes Benz (6:23)
08. Over The Rainforest (0:36)
09. Move Over (6:59)
10. Whole Lotta Love (5:15)
11. Redemption Song (5:27)
12. Sunshine Of Your Love (4:44)
13. In A Gadda Da Vida (5:22)
14. Topkapi (0:43)
15. Come Together (5:47)

Links:
www.nguyen-le.com
www.myspace.com/davidlinx
www.younsunnah.com
davidbinney.com
www.actmusic.com
RIP Bob Marley: Twitter marks 30th anniversary of reggae icon’s death
Bob Marley died 30 years ago today on May 11, 1981 metro.co.uk
The Jazz Chronicles Session with Simon S (futuristica Music), Martin Gordon (Brownswood) and Gerry Hectic (FLYGobalMusic) 1st Saturday on the Month at sixtymillionpostcards.com