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Soul food for the heart
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This review first appeared in the October 5, 1995 issue of the North County Blade-Citizen (now North County Times).
If you crave the different; if your soul needs a fix of the truly experimental; if you seek challenges the way most people seek a good pizza, then Kip Hanrahan is just what you've been listening for. His music is the embodiment of the spirit of modern jazz: swinging, soulful, melding intellect and spirit.
Hanrahan's recordings have consistently pushed the boundaries of what defines jazz, but with such style and grace – with a sense of panache that buffers the unusual – that you never realize how far out his stuff is until after you're done listening to it.
Who else would have enough faith in power rocker Jack Bruce to have him sing jazz? And it absolutely works – Bruce owns the cover of Jelly Roll Morton's "Buddy Bolden's Blues."
Who else would pair Allen Toussaint on piano and the since-deceased Don Pullen on organ? Or lay all of that atop a swinging Latin beat put down by some of the heaviest percussionists on the scene – led by Milton Cardona?
And then there's this: Hanrahan has the wildest song titles this side of John Fahey. Where else will you find songs with titles like "the September dawn shows itself to Elizabeth and her lover on East 18th Street in Manhattan" or "... at the same time as the subway train was pulling out of the station ..."?
Feed your soul: Listen to Hanrahan.