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Her inspiration for finding ‘home’ was that she’s spent much of her recent career “being other people” with projects celebrating female jazz giants Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald. So she wanted to find herself and “wanted to get percussive.”

Suitably enough, the set opens with an immaculate version of the track made famous by another female jazz singer “finding herself” today, Abbey Lincoln. ‘Afro Blue’ will always be classic but this version seems to resonate stronger than ever being one of the ten recorded in Bamako with Cheick Tidiane Seck. There’s a nice section on him arriving at Bamako Station on the DVD and the place to be for a great Saturday night out is Oumou Sangaré’s hotel.

The DVD is a beautifully filmed documentary of the recording of the album with the Malian backdrop, even with scenes of urban poverty, it’s a great 45 minute advert (bound to turn up on cable channel at some stage and well worth watching).

Seck is the link between Dee Dee’s American jazz and Africa. The studio is full of traditional instruments, (“I want the boom boom” she says) and it a mixture of local musicians and her regular trio of Edsel Gomez (Puerto Rico, pianist). Ira Coleman (bassist worked with Angelique Kidjo, Denise Jannah and Klaus Doldinger) and Minino Garay (Arginitian percussionist).

‘Bani’ (Bad Spirits)’, ‘Sakhodougou’ (The Griots) and ‘Massane Cissé’ (Red Earth) have been told in the oral tradition of the ‘griots’ since the twelfth century and is what global music is all about, even if the purists might disagree with Dee Dee’s contributions in English. Purist or not, the duet on ‘Djarabi (Oh My Love) with Oumou Sangaré is special and there’s no denying that the vocal contribution of Kabiné Kouyaté on ‘The Griots’ is a find.

One of the better tracks that attempt a modern griot mix English/skat/Bambara is ‘Dee Dee’ co-written with Baba Sissoko and ‘Mama Digna Sara Ye’ (Mama Don’t Ever Go Away) written with Malian diva Ramata Diakité.

On the DVD she explains at length about how she wanted to make this an album for and by women. Good choice then to cover a Nina Simone song, ‘Four Women’ and the track that’s getting all-round acclaim ‘Bambo’ (No More) with its anti-forced marriage. Originally composed by Tata ‘Bambo’ Kouyaté (who sings with Dee Dee), it was so influencial, the government outlawed forced marriage in the 1960s (not that it still doesn’t go on of course around the world).

Two obvious sides of Dee Dee come out on the soul-modal-jazz interpretation of Wayne Shorter’s ‘Footprints’ with suitable roots lyrics from Dee Dee and the blues with Bassékou Kouyaté and three other n’goni players, two percussionists and Bassékou’s wife on ‘Children Go ‘Round’.

The last three tracks were recorded in Paris, where she lives with her husband/co-producer Jean Marie Durand. ‘Red Earth’ (Massane Cissé) rocks the blues as Dee really lets you have it with Fatoumata “Mama” Kouyaté.

Hectic Mix Nominations: ‘Red Earth’, ‘Afro Blue’, ‘Footprints’, ‘Bambo’, ‘The Griots’, ‘Four Women’

Reviewed: Dee Dee Bridgewater -Red Earth, A Malian Journey (Universal) Release date: June 07 DVD Dee Dee Bridgewater Motherland A Documentary by Patrick Savey

Links:
www.cheick-tidiane-seck.com
www.oumousangare.co.ukwww.myspace.com/bassekoukouyate
Gilles Peterson :: Thursday 31 May :: Heavy Hitters Funk Mix
Dee Dee Bridewater- ‘Footprints’ (Long Time Ago) (DDB)
Afro Blue…the recording of by Abbey Lincoln was the first to record a sung version of the standard “Afro-Blue’, “a great opener here” [describing her 1959 album]