At first it seems strange that a record so deeply grounded in terrestrial concerns of love and family would begin with a song about climbing onto a spaceship. Then you notice the "mother" in "Mothership," and understand that Dwight Trible likes to sing about connections among all life forms, whatever planet they hail from. We're all family to him.
Trible builds his house from familiar materials: the Coltrane river of "Brother Where Are You?," the Latin chug of "It's All About Love," the straight blues of "Thank You Master." Even when Ramses Rodriguez's mallets tumble into the mantric rhythm of "Tomorrow Never Knows," we recognize that the Beatles inhabit our roots as much as Robert Johnson does.
Family too are the musicians, recognizable from countless South Los Angeles jams. The old guard includes Hall of Fame bassist John B. Williams and, from Trible's Horace Tapscott years, percussionist Derf Reklaw and harpist Maia. Saxist Kamasi Washington, now a household name if your household has jazz in it, came up blowing at Leimert Park's World Stage, which keyboardist Mark de Clive-Lowe, violist Miguel Atwood-Ferguson and percussionist Carlos Niño have also made a second home. These folks hardly needed to rehearse with Trible; they sound as if they just rolled off the couch and started playing.
Which doesn't mean they're not focused. Drummer Rodriguez, active on the Cuban circuit, exudes a wonderful soft feel and a suggestive rhythmic sense throughout. Washington's lone solo on the title track ranks among his most incisive. Dig de Clive-Lowe's jaunty piano on the stroll/boogaloo workout "Walkin' to Paradise," and Atwood-Ferguson's resiny lyricism on the sleepy plaint "Some Other Time." They all come together to make ya MOVE.
Trible, well, he's just an old-fashioned sentimentalist, and if you can't handle that, go pluck your cactus. But in addition to his many moans and caresses, his incredible range also permits him to whoop, scream and scat in spontaneous abstract passion; if there's any way this fine recording falls short, it's that it could never duplicate the multidimensional microphone technique he exhibits live.
On "Walkin' to Paradise," Trible sings about his desire to forge ahead and keep giving service despite weariness and disappointment. So let's take this opportunity to thank him not only for his voice, but for booking the exceptional World Stage concert series, for fostering the cultural community to which he's long made such important contributions, and for reaching out to any open hand across this alienated city. And across the universe.
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Dwight Trible celebrates the release of "Mothership" at the World Stage on Friday, March 29.