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Ernest Dawkins: Afro Straight

By Mark Corroto
December 21, 2012
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Afro Straight is Saturday music. That day following a work week where you take off your suit and tie or uniform, and put on that favorite sweatshirt and pair of jeans to kick back and relax in the familiar confines of your home. The familiar is your solace, and saxophonist

Ernest Dawkins

saxophone
b.1953

" data-original-title="" title="">Ernest Dawkins delivering time-honored standards is the equivalent of comfort food for the ears.

Dawkins, a member of Chicago's AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians), is a veteran of both outside and inside music-making. His previous disc with his Chicago Trio, Velvet Songs To Baba Fred Anderson (RogueArt, 2011), was a nod to both the tradition and freedom in jazz and his New Horizons Ensemble and Chicago 12 bands, like his work with percussionist

Kahil El'Zabar

drums
b.1953

" data-original-title="" title="">Kahil El'Zabar and The Ethnic Heritage Ensemble, playing music that can soar completely free or remain within an orthodox tradition.

Somewhat like saxophonist

John Coltrane

saxophone
1926 - 1967

" data-original-title="" title="">John Coltrane's Ballads (Impulse!, 1962), here Dawkins sets out to create a straight-ahead sound. Employing a younger generation of Players—trumpeter

Corey Wilkes

trumpet
b.1979

" data-original-title="" title="">Corey Wilkes (

Art Ensemble Of Chicago

band / ensemble / orchestra

" data-original-title="" title="">Art Ensemble Of Chicago), New Horizons bassist Junius Paul and drummer Isaiah Spencer, plus pianist Willerm Delisfort—the saxophonist covers the music of Coltrane, saxophonist

Wayne Shorter

saxophone
1933 - 2023

" data-original-title="" title="">Wayne Shorter and singer

Billie Holiday

vocals
1915 - 1959

" data-original-title="" title="">Billie Holiday. The record is dedicated to all these artists, a well as saxophonist

Von Freeman

saxophone, tenor
1922 - 2012

" data-original-title="" title="">Von Freeman, whose influence is most felt here.

Dawkins packs the disc with Afro-Latin rhythms and African percussion, employing additional congas. His original, "Afro Straight," is a percussion-only track. But mostly, this is Dawkins reworking the familiar to great effect. "Mr. PC" accelerates from the start, tapping into the heart of bebop, as does

Dizzy Gillespie

trumpet
1917 - 1993

" data-original-title="" title="">Dizzy Gillespie's "Woody 'N You," with Wilkes snapping the rubber band with a quicksilver muted trumpet sound. He also plays mute on Shorter's "Footprints," entangling his horn with Dawkins. The band covers a sentimental "God Bless The Child," with Ben Patterson sitting in on Hammond B3, while Dawkins ignites on "Softly As In A Morning Sunrise," tearing through the changes over its sympathetic percussive backing. He even sings "Old Man Blues" over a walking bass, telling the familiar yarn of unrequited love.

The comfort music of Saturday morning blossoms into the possibilities of a night on the town.

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Track Listing

Mr. PC; United; Afro Straight; Central Park West; Woody ��N You; Softly As A Morning Sunrise; God Bless the Child; Footprints; Old Man Blues; Juju.

Personnel

Ernest Dawkins

saxophone

Ernest Dawkins: alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, percussion; Corey Wilkes; trumpet; Willerm Delisfort: piano; Junius Paul: bass; Isaiah Spencer: drums; Ruben Alvarez: congas, bongos, chimes, shaker; Greg Carmouche: congas; Greg Penn: congas; Ben Paterson: Hammond B3 organ.

Album information

Title: Afro Straight | Year Released: 2012 | Record Label: Delmark Records

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