Jolof

An album of complexity, sensitivity and smarts, Jolof takes its name from the kingdom that spanned West Africa – the Gambia, north-western Senegal, coastal Mauritania – in the 12th century (as well as the region's popular rice dish). Tradition, then, is its main focus; the sabar, the hand-and-stick-hit king drum ubiquitous in the ceremonies of Senegal, and crucial to the driving mbalax style beloved of Youssou N’Dour, is at a premium here. But having long harboured a passion for African-American blues and jazz, the Senegalese guitarist, singer and composer Hervé Samb determines to explore his African roots in ways both time-honoured and groundbreaking. Samb – who has worked with jazz icons Marcus Miller and Pharaoh Sanders – has been developing his brand of sabar jazz for a while. This sixth studio recording feels like a pinnacle: ten wildly varied tracks lit by innovation (‘Gëm sa Bop’ celebrates self-confidence with bluesy pentatonics; the seven minute ‘Doole’ has Bach-inspired harmonies and a long rap-like tassu-vocal improvisation) and percussive cross-rhythms wielded by Alioune Seck. Griot singer Alpha Dieng unleashes his powerful nasal vocals over seven of the ten tracks; Samb sings, winningly, on the remaining three. His work on guitar, the boundary-less instrument introduced to West Africa in the pop-dazzled 1960s, is remarkable, virtuosic; his use of space and time(ing) similarly praiseworthy. Recommended.