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Each month, Down Beat magazine gives four critics named John, John, John and Jim an opportunity to compare notes on four new CDs. It's sort of like "Rashomon," only different.
This is where I first heard about Supergenerous, an album characterized as "party music for the mult-kulti wine-sippin' set, ... hipsters ... and the postmodern crowd."
Nearly lost in all the social analysis were some intriguing descriptions of the duo's unorthodox sound. Now I'm no yuppie sympathizer (then again, who is?), but I just had to judge this music for myself.
Cyro Baptista is a first-call percussionist from São Paulo, Brazil who has worked with John Zorn, Paul Simon and James Carter. His palette includes home-made and international instruments, found objects and pieces of Western drum kits.
Kevin Breit, who hails from northern Ontario, plays all manner of acoustic and electric guitars, various members of the mandolin family, and a mutant device called the Guitorgan.
Highlights include "Marisa O'Brien," a two-minute gem that opens with the riff from "Pipeline"; a melancholy reading of "Home on the Range" by vocalist Cassandra Wilson; "God's Parking Lot," a screwball concoction that manages to be psychedelic without sounding particularly retro; and a distinctive cover of Duke Ellington, Juan Tizol and Irving Mills's "Caravan." |
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