Tales from the Beach (Heads Up International, 2008)
The Mauritius-born musician, songwriter and leader of the group Incognito Jean-Paul "Bluey" Maunick has dipped into his magic bag of tricks and brightly burnished the group’s acid jazz, funk and world music sound on Tales from the Beach, turning out a CD that is like a slice of summer with plumy mix of R & B, Latin and funk. Following up on such recordings as Positivity, No Time Like the Future, Who Needs Love and Jazz Funk, Incognito’s Tales from the Beach slides down smooth like an icy drink on a hot day. The richly worked sound is the result of recording sessions in Indonesia, Italy, Germany and England, enhancing the international flavor with a sunny beach sound.
Dripping with Fender Rhodes piano, bass, congas and sizzling brass lines, opening track "Step Aside" sparkles with Joy Rose’s lead vocals and the silky smooth backup vocals by Imaani, Tony Momrelle and Ms. Rose. The bass and brass heavy "I’ve Been Waiting" is possessed by a succulent funk feel, reigned over by Maysa’s breezy vocals, while "Love Joy Understanding" rides a delightful wave of brass, Fender Rhodes piano and synthesizer, anchored by a sassy beat and Imaani’s lead vocals.
Scorching tracks like "I Come Alive (Rimshots and Basses) with its hip swiviling beat, expansive funk sound and slinky vocals by Ms. Rose or the equally sizzling "Happy People" with its chunky beat and piquant keyboard lines epitomize the feel-good sound of Tales from the Beach. Tracks like "N.O.T.," the Latin tinged "Freedom to Love," the deliciously jazzy "Never Look Back" and the suave "Silence of My Mind" captivate with the edgy acid jazz burn Incognito is known for. Title track "Tales from the Beach" is, simply put, sassy goodness with bass, drums, congas, bongos and Mr. Maunick on guitar.
Tales from the Beach is slyly hip and irrepressibly cool.
Buy the CD:
- In North America: Tales from the Beach
Author: TJ Nelson
TJ Nelson is a regular CD reviewer and editor at World Music Central. She is also a fiction writer. Check out her latest book, Chasing Athena’s Shadow.
Set in Pineboro, North Carolina, Chasing Athena’s Shadow follows the adventures of Grace, an adult literacy teacher, as she seeks to solve a long forgotten family mystery. Her charmingly dysfunctional family is of little help in her quest. Along with her best friends, an attractive Mexican teacher and an amiable gay chef, Grace must find the one fading memory that holds the key to why Grace’s great-grandmother, Athena, shot her husband on the courthouse steps in 1931.
Traversing the line between the Old South and New South, Grace will have to dig into the past to uncover Athena’s true crime.
