NATIVE WORLDS

 R. Carlos Nakai rose to fame as a player of the Native American flute, presented in a peaceful, meditative manner. His music was cross-filed as both Native American and New Age, but Nakai had been trained as a jazz trumpet player before embarking on his career as the leading light in the revival of Native American flute.

 In the past this has led Nakai, particularly when collaborating with others, to play a style of jazz music on his flute as if it was a saxophone: in our minds this hasn't been as successful as it could be; so when the latest cd arrived from the R. Carlos Nakai Quartet, PEOPLE OF PEACE, I assumed I wouldn't like it.

 The Native American flute just doesn't lend itself to fancy improvisation. But wait, folks: on PEOPLE OF PEACE Nakai has found a way around the problem, by playing peaceful music that occasionally gets into soft jazz.

 If a tune calls for something not really practical for the cedar flute, Nakai switches to trumpet or lets one of his bandmasters take over: Amochip Dabney plays saxophone as well as keyboards, bass, and drums; Mary Redhouse sings and plays bass, Will Cupman plays drums and every sort of percussion instrument ever conceived of.

 This has to be N. Carlos Nakai's best group effort yet: by having people who can 'double' on so many instruments along with the studio magic of overdubbing  things never get boring, and people aren't playing beyond the abilities of their instruments - hence PEACE music, without things being so peaceful the listener drifts off to slumber land.

 Well, if you are really tired and you wanted to go to sleep you might be able to, especially on Cut 8, 'Condor Canyon' - but I'd think cut 9, 'Club Dread', would wake you right up again: Nakai's trumpet making for a great brass section sound with Dabney's soprano and tenor saxophones (Dabney also plays piano and percussion on this cut).

 I should mention that when Mary Rudhouse sings, it's usually sounds like a wordless chant that follows the line set by the flute and saxophone: there are no English vocals or lyrics on the entire cd.

 I initially didn't want to listen to PEOPLE OF PEACE, but by cut 11 (out of 12 total) I wanted to play in the band: so many different sounds; the musicians seem to be having fun. It takes a great deal of skill and discipline to play this good and know when to add something and when to get out of the way.

 Amochip Dabney in particular is a great find: a man who can solo on so many instruments but sit out an entire tune if necessary. Nobody in this band showboats: a musician will play several instruments on one tune then sit out another, or play one instrument alone.

 The tune comes first, not the individual: I wish more musicians understood this - and should listen to PEOPLE OF PEACE for inspiration.

1. Full Moon Session by Skychasers
2. Sacred Stage by James Bilagody & Cremains

 Sometimes the blending of Native American music traditions and instruments with the instruments and sounds of other cultures works quite well and at other times it does not. I'm happy to report that the music of Aaron White and Tommy Lee, collectively known as Skychasers, is one of the former.

 If you love Native American cedar flute music, what can be better than the two of them matched with an acoustic guitar, rattles and an occasional bass and or second guitar? The result is yummy: mellow, almost new age in sound, but with substance.

  Aaron White is a powerful guitar picker as well as a flautist who plays a variety of flutes including bass flute and a double walnut flute. Ok, I'll admit I have no idea what a double walnut flute is; but it sounds like someone using a reverb unit.

 Tommy Lee plays more than one flute on several cuts: some cuts feature Aaron White and no-one else, and on some cuts he plays acoustic guitar only. On others he adds flute.  Aaron also made the flutes used on FULL MOON SESSION. Skychasers' FULL MOON SESSION has become one of our favorite Native American flute recordings.

 I was quite prepared to dislike SACRED STAGE, a Native American songwriter backed by a hard rock band whose first independent cd was titled HATE YOU. They were voted native American Rock Band of the Year in 1999.

 James has been around for some time now: in 1989 he sang on SACRED FEELINGS with Douglas Spotted Eagle, one of our favorite native American flute players. Among other highlights, James was on Little Wolf's WOLF MOON album (also recommended) and the fantastic CONTACT FROM THE UNDERWORLD OF RED BOY by Robbie Robertson.

 But does this marriage work, you ask? Well, most of the time yes: on some cuts the playing of the group matches James' voice and lyrics remarkably well; on others the band gets a bit rough for my taste, akin to punk rock.  (Of course, the lyrics aren't always peace, lover and brotherhood, so punk rock does match the intent of the lyrics.)

 Somehow listening to Native Americans protest in anger sounds less offensive than the whining of the Sex Pistols or even The Clash, who could at least play their instruments.  The Cremains may not be virtuosos, but they can play and they can even be subtle on the rare occasion when they want to be.

 Not all the lyrics are protest: cut 7, 'Sunrise', is a tribute to Ed Lee Natay, who visited various tribes learning their songs and culture; cut 8, 'To be in Love', is actually a love song featuring James on acoustic guitar backed only by bass and drums.

 James Bilagody and the Cremains are a goof strong combination sure to shake up the troops wherever they play. (Did I say troops? A USO tour - wow, wouldn't that be something: I doubt if our government has the guts for that - I'd pay to see a film of such a tour.)

1. Butterfly Dreams by Anthony Wakeman
2. Voices Across the Canyon V. 6 
    by Various Artists
3. There Are No Goodbyes by Randy Wood
4. Sweethearts' Shuffle by Northern Cree
5. Sacred Mountains by Louie Gonnie

  Anthony Wakeman is a young Native American flutist who plays traditional wood flute; most likely cedar. His style is soft and contemplative. Although he's an apprentice flute maker, all flutes used on BUTTERFLY DREAMS were handmade by Butch Hall.

 There are twelve tunes, all instrumental - I'd probably be raving about BUTTERFLY DREAMS if I hadn't been listening to similar music for fifteen years or more.

 Anthony Wakeman composes his own original tunes: his playing and composition hits me as in the middle between the greats like Douglas Spotted Eagle, N. Carlos Nakai and a host of lesser players, though some of these players are more innovative.

 Anthony Wakeman has a consistent, pleasant sound great for lullabies.  The title cut 'Butterfly Dreams' was inspired by watching his daughter sleeping.

 Need to mellow out but sick of chanting mantras? You could do quite well with Anthony Wakeman's BUTTERFLY DREAMS.

 Louie Gonnie's SACRED MOUNTAINS is subtitled 'Meditation Songs from Dine': the Dine are the people we call Navajo.  Louie Gonnie is an artist in many ways: singer, painter, composer, craftsman. He sings of nature in the language of his people. 

 There are no other singers listed in the liner notes, so I assume he's overdubbing his voice several times over to get the interesting countless vocals and harmonies.

 Much of the singing  is in a style we could call 'chant': at times it reminds me of Eastern European choir music, at other times the religious music of the Christian monks of Spain.

 Although no technical explanations are present, the point of each song is clear: this is a very mellow vocal recording similar to the effect of listening to Native American flute music - not an easy thing to do with the voice.  Folks into spiritual and/or New Age music should enjoy Louie Gonnie's SACRED MOUNTAINS.

 Like most Native Americans, Randy Wood lives in two different worlds: the traditional world of his people and the world of the white man (no longer an exclusively white world, by any means).

 Randy easily slips from the language of the Saddle Lake people into English and back and forth throughout his songs, which he also composes.   His sound is based on the Round Dance tradition. Randy is a well-known grass dancer as well as a singer/composer at pow-wows throughout his native Canada and the USA.

 He's one of the new native performers who can get the attention of non-natives on the first lesson. His second album ROUND DANCE BLUES was something of a hit in 2003.  THERE ARE NO GOODBYES is his third full-length cd.

 Randy Wood loves his people, his family, and his woman and he's not afraid to let the world know through his music.  One of the most interesting and easiest to listen to Native singers on the scene today, Randy has a beautiful voice that reminds me of Elvis Presley with his range, but of course his style is totally different.   If Randy wanted to sing rock n roll, country or blues, he could probably do anything with no problem.

 The style of music in Northern Cree's SWEETHEARTS SHUFFLE is round dance, and this is the type of group drumming and singing you'd see and hear if you went to a Native American pow-wow or celebration.

 SWEETHEARTS SHUFFLE is pretty intense stuff: the type of music that scared the wits out of the settler in old Western movies.   There are eleven vocalists on SWEETHEARTS SHUFFLE: all are men, but some of the vocals are so high-pitched we assumed half the group was female.  The liner notes are a bit skimpy on details, so we have no idea how this is done.

 SWEETHEARTS SHUFFLE is probably aimed at Native Americans almost exclusively, particularly the Cree people. Music fans from outside who are curious about technical details feel a little left out: perhaps this is on purpose. Song titles don't help much: 'Alierlou Lullaby' sounds just as powerful as 'B.J. Blues' (I can't imagine a baby going to sleep listening to this, but whatever is going on - its' powerful stuff.)

 The title of VOICES ACROSS THE EMPIRE neatly says it all, as it's a compilation of several artists on canyon Records, the premier label for Native American artists - and the 6th album in the series.

 Flutist N. Carlos Nakai is Canyon's biggest star, so he gets to be on three tunes; two as a solo artist, and one where he shares billing with Robert Tree Cody and Cliff Sardee.   Sardee is new to me: he plays keyboards while Tree Cody sings and chants. It's a subtle blend and works well.

 Robert Tree Cody also appears on cut 9, 'Maze', with Hovia Edwards: both play native American flutes.

 An unusual cut for Canyon Records is #4 by Xavier Quijas Yaayotl, who plays music of the Native peoples of Mexico. Clay flutes, not the usual cedar, are used along with ancestral drums, which give a very different sound to that we usually hear on this side of the border.

 Though the key word in the album title is 'voices', the majority of the eleven cuts are instrumental. If you have wanted to check out Native American group singing but have shield away from purchasing an entire cd of one tribe's vocalizing, check out cut #10, 'Good Times' by the Northern Cree singers: this is pow-wow singing at its best: its raw energy had the ghost hairs on my head stand up at attention.

 There are also some good individual singers on VOICES ACROSS THE CANYON V. 6 like Jay Begay and Randy Wood.

 For a fusion of Native American and other American styles, try the group's 'Medicine Man' (acoustic guitar, English vocal with great harmonies) or try Burning Sky's acoustic guitar played in  a powerful rock style accompanied by wooden flute (now that's different!).

  For a totally traditional individual vocalist, listen to Radmilla Cody sing 'The Return Home' in the Dine (Navajo) language.

 Though not all forms of Native American music found on Canyon Records are featured here, VOICES ACROSS THE CANYON V. 6 is probably the best Native American music compilation produced so far.

 If you have little or no Native American music in your collection, VOICES ACROSS THE CANYON V. 6 is a great place to start.