Joe Bowden Project - Roots - Tales Of The Urban Yoda (2020)

Funk or rhythm and blues? Rhythm and blues or funk after all? In order to find the right fairway between these two shores and skillfully navigate your ship along it, on the board of which is proudly written Roots, you must be really the wisest Yoda (you, of course, remember the most colorful hero of the Star Wars saga?). And Joe Bowden, a Toronto-based music industry veteran, has successfully done so, and has given his new album a double title: Roots-Tales of the Urban Yoda. In the liner notes, Joe recalls that he was called the City Yoda by one of the students, who was amazed at the boundlessness of his knowledge and skills. Clearly not without pleasure and with a touch of self-irony, Bowden made this honorary nickname part of the title of his album.
As for funk and rhythm and blues, it's all true. I would not dare to say something unambiguous about the style of this work, for the recording of which drummer, keyboardist and composer Joe Bowden gathered the best masters of jazz and rhythm and blues in Toronto. You should not think that they all play together: no, the format of the ensemble changes from track to track, but in each track, regardless of this, you will find a very powerful rhythmic accent. There are also some bright solos, including Bowden himself, but the basis is still in the collective sound, built, in my opinion, primarily on the work of the keyboard players. The only song with vocals, Sentimental, slightly less tempos, in accordance with its name, left me in some perplexity: carefully listing the artists in each track, bypassed the vocalist, whose voice sounds here. As if the City Yoda was not accused of gender discrimination: all male musicians are listed, but the lady " remained behind the scenes»…. But this is by the way. And if you like dynamic music that echoes the work of The Crusaders, Herbie Hancock and James Brown (these are the "roots" mentioned on the cover), then this album will definitely appeal to you.