Musical attempts geared towards the fusion of jazz with the countless genres of international folk music are not a new phenomenon. Decades ago the greatest names in jazz— Miles, Mingus, Coltrane—were already utilizing the gifts of fresh melody from various world cultures in the context of progressive jazz. Some jazz musicians, like Pharaoh Sanders and McCoy Tyner, devoted entire periods of work to the creation of globally-aware conceptions of jazz. This pathway led not through a hybrid of jazz and world music, but down a wholly different route that fell somewhere in between the two and yet further on still.
It is in the shadow of such pioneers that bassist Ben Allison and other young musicians have begun the process of collecting and constructing the building materials of world jazz’s past. Allison’s other ensemble, Medicine Wheel, is firmly grounded in the melodic and rhythmic primacy that forms the basis of many folk traditions, in addition to using instruments from around the world to expand Allison’s repertoire of sounds. With the swift and bright kora of Mali’s own Mamadou Diabate on board the Peace Pipe project, Allison has done more than simply add an “international” flavor to an otherwise traditionally instrumented ensemble. Rather, he has taken the more difficult and rewarding path—the evolution of his whole style and sound based upon the musical “philosophy” inherent in the capabilities and limitations of an instrument like the kora.
The Malian kora is a two-handed harp with a gourd resonator that can have 20 or more strings tuned to any number of different keys. The trouble that presents itself in a traditional jazz context, where quick and constant key changes are the rule, is that the kora must actually be tuned to a given key—unlike the sax, piano, guitar, bass, trumpet, and many other common jazz instruments, which can simply enter and exit any key at will. As a result, all the tracks on Peace Pipe where the kora is either featured or prominently placed spend most of the time in a handful of keys, with kora-less or lessened breaks and bridges, giving a number of the songs the feeling of a suite or extended composition. On the other hand, the sound of the kora is one of the most beautiful and haunting on the planet, trickling like water in a dream. Diabate’s masterful and soulful ability lends this otherworldly beauty to a most receptive jazz ensemble.
The other Peace Pipe musicians pull out some subtle tricks to tease out fitting sounds from their own instruments. A “prepared piano”—a technique where the pianist places screws or other objects in between the piano strings to achieve interesting timbres and resonances—is used on “Slap Happy” to emphasize the metallic ringing qualities of the kora. The drummer makes use of shakers and occasional hand slaps on his set in imitation of African drummers. In “Disposable Genius,” the sax imitates undulating kora runs, while it becomes as light and airy as a flute in an extended solo on the title track. Allison’s bouncy bass sound is full of intimate depth as he leads the group on an ever-shifting tour of cyclical, vamped polyrhythms.
Not to say that Allison has completely abandoned traditional hard bop. On the penultimate track, “Realization,” the kora is conspicuously absent on a piece more reminiscent of your average jazz standard than anything else on the album. Yet this type of composition somehow belongs on the album, perhaps revealing the undeniable link between jazz/blues and their West African origins. Some of the tunes are more powerfully affecting than others on Peace Pipe, but none lack the genuine imagination or curiosity characteristic of Allison’s work. All this signals good times ahead for world fusion.
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