Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Steve Lehman: Sélébéyone

Steve Lehman: Sélébéyone

By Mark Corroto
August 6, 2016
View read count

The remastered edition of the Beastie Boys disc Check Your Head (Capitol, 2009) has a bonus disc with a live track from Budokan, Japan. A Japanese rapper, MC Poo, raps "Microphone Check" in broken English before continuing on in Japanese. Without the language, he knew what the Beasties were about and also without the Japanese language, we know what time it is.

Same can be said for American saxophonist

Steve Lehman

saxophone, alto

" data-original-title="" title="">Steve Lehman's Sélébéyone. Sélébéyone or "intersection ," is a convergence between Western culture and West Africa, American rapper HPrizm and Senegalese rapper Gaston Bandimic, jazz and hip-hop, the West and the East. Just like Dakar where French is the official language, Wolof is spoken as an intersection with French and Arabic. The music here is jazz, which is rooted in the music of African, Europe, and the Caribbean.

Never has the connection between jazz and hip-hop been made as clear as Lehman has made it here. Listening to Sélébéyone it dawns on you that his previous works like Mise en Ab?me (Pi Recordings, 2014) and Demian as Posthuman (Pi Recordings, 2005) parallel this exploration into hip-hop. His selective use of live electronics and drum programming augment the acoustic bassist

Drew Gress

bass
b.1959

" data-original-title="" title="">Drew Gress, drummer

Damion Reid

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Damion Reid, and the keyboards of Carlos Home.

Lehman's focus here is the intersection of HPrizm, or High priest from Antipop Consortium, and Senegalese star Gaston Bandimic. The two cultures commingle, but where HPrizm speaks of basketball star Allen Iverson, Bandimic raps about snake hunters trying to catch elephants. Their messages are the same, but are spoken to different audiences. Bandimic's Wolof language is exotic and strange to Western ears, just as jazz was probably to the ears of the first Europeans to hear this American music. Like the rappers, Lehman and the French speaking saxophonist Maciek Lasserre find their own intersection of language—Lehman's alto with Lasserre's soprano.

Like all titanic hip-hop and jazz records theirs contains much to consider, lessons to be learned, poetry to contemplate, and new cultures to absorb.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Laamb; Are You In?Peace?; Akap; Origine; Cognition; Hybrid; Dualis; Geminou; Bamba.

Personnel

Steve Lehman

saxophone, alto

Gaston Bandimic: vocals; HPrizm: vocals; Steve Lehman: alto saxophone; Maciek Lasserre: soprano saxophone; Carlos Homs: piano, keyboards; Drew Gress: acoustic bass; Damion Reid: drum set.

Album information

Title: Sélébéyone | Year Released: 2016 | Record Label: Pi Recordings

PREVIOUS / NEXT

The 2016 Rock Hall Three for All: He...
< Previous

Simplicity
Next >

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.