When YolanDa Brown plays live, she covers the stage, energetic and totally into her groove. On categorization of her music, YolanDa is keen not to be driven into any box, and jokes her music could best be described as “posh reggae – yes, let’s go with that.” Whatever it’s called, Love, Politics, War features 15 eclectic, very enjoyable tracks.
“Crocodile Tears” opens and is funky and starts with a salutation of sax from YolanDa Brown, before the theme reveals itself and follows through the track. There is a beautiful middle section with double saxes and a bounciness to the track which is totally in keeping with her irrepressible spirit. The final section is freer, which is glorious in itself.
“Dream Dream Repeat,” featuring Casey Benjamin of the Robert Glasper band, is a sashaying, reggae-steeped, rhythmic escapade with the saxophones bouncing off each other over the driving rhythms, while “Feel No Pain” (featuring three-time Grammy Award-winning Dame Evelyn Glennie) is, as you would expect, a deeply rhythmic and soul-drenched number which develops both in complexity and textures as the track progresses. The tenor solo is wonderfully rich, though I’m not sure about the playground sounds at the end.
“General PoliTricks,” featuring Rick Leon James on bass, is gorgeous, rich and delivers a bounce throughout. That is until a break in rhythm for the sax solo, which is impressively register-crossing and verging on free as it soars and wails. Beautiful. “Heritage” is like a journey, as the sax sings over an ever subtly changing musical arrangement held together by a steady beat. That cadence changes only for a short section around the two-thirds mark, where keys and sax play over what sounds like a stuck record needle that acts as a metronome. “Love at War” is a poem set over music, worded beautifully by the poetess and vocalist Floacist. The stark words, backed by light, contrasting sax, somehow make the dialogue between spoken and sung vocals more interesting.
“Million Billion Love” is reggae-infused and an enjoyable number before the arrival of “Neutral Ground.” Trumpeter Keyon Harrold and pianist Jon Cleary bring a NOLA vibe to the music, and the layers are peeled back to reveal sharper, deeper textures and a lovely change of tempo before the crystal clear trumpet solo in the middle section. Cleary’s deceptively laid back, yet intricate style of playing blends well with the sax style of YolanDa Brown on this track, and the minor key interlude just before the final flourish is ear catching.
“Never Too Late” is slow, and opens with sax and bass in just off tandem, which is intriguing and clever, before it smooths out into a well-rounded thematic number. “No More War” features Phebe Edwards (Liam Gallagher, Adele, Rita Ora, Lemar, Primal Scream, Donna Summer, Gabrielle and others), and the emotive, gospel/soul-steeped style she uses works well with the exceptional sax. “Prosper” is a rhythmic, driving song/prayer about the search for freedom from discrimination and forgiveness, with lovely male vocals over the funky beat.
“Roll With It” opens with quiet, rhythmic bass before brassy blares smother the gentleness. This is then replaced with a dance rhythm and funky vibes, under which the sax enters, rhythmic and seemingly settled into the groove before lifting up and over after the half way mark to lead. “Sugarcane” is easy, hanging behind the beat and laid back in style while never complacent.
“This Kind Of Love,” featuring Raheem Devaughn on vocals, is gentle, strolling and packed with powerful words which belie the gentleness of the backing music and vocals. “Time and Tide” has a spiritual, moving cadence which the sax introduces and the gentle backing re-iterates. There is a sense of movement, a constant building and reflection. A super track to finish.
Every track on YolanDa Brown’s Love, Politics, War has a certain eclecticism to it, with rhythm changes, tempo trips and gentle offset sections where a musician takes the central role, always on a changing basis. The sax is central, however, and key to the driving behind each track. There is a warmth running through this music, that opinion possibly being influenced by the very warm YolanDa I met and was greeted by with a huge bear hug a month or so back when I saw her play live.
YolanDa Brown is coming of age. There is a confidence and quality to her playing, and she is more than willing to extend her range and try a different take on her music. She may joke about her genre being a new one but any way you name it, it is certainly in a class of its own.
- Joan Torres’s All Is Fused – ‘Embrace Form’ (2024) - July 14, 2024
- Julian Costello – ‘Vertigo’ (2024) - June 29, 2024
- Eric Anders and Mark O’Bitz – ‘Contrapasso’ (2024) - June 21, 2024
