Winard (1999)

About this title: Exploring his African roots and jazz branches, drummer Harper kicks it good on this wide ranging program. There's plenty to satisfy the most discriminating hard bop fan, and percussive spice that offers contrast. Harper is joined by up-and-coming tenor saxophonist J.D. Allen and trumpeter Patrick Rickman, bassist Eric Revis, the great pianist George Cables and percussionist Abdou Mboup. On the swinging side, acknowledgements to Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers and the Clifford Brown-Max Roach quintet are evident on Rueben Brown's "Float Like A Butterfly," the more neo-bop "Nefer Mine," and the ... read more

Tracks:

1. Float Like a Butterfly [Brown]
2. The Good Life [Distel/Reardon]
3. Isn't She Lovely [Wonder]
4. I Fall in Love Too Easily [Cahn/Styne]
5. Nefer Mine [Rickman]
6. The Believers: Intro [Harper]
7. The Believers [Harper]
8. The Children's Song [Harper]
9. The Beneficent and the Merciful [Allen]
10. Miles Sebastian [Revis]
11. Ndaje [Mboup]
12. Voodoo Lady [Cables]
13. Mr. Hyde [Allen]
14. Ballad of Salaam [Revis]

Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is further described below.