I first came across The Ju Ju Orchestra on one of the fantastic Brazilectro compilations a couple of years back. The tune was the superhumaly hip 'Kind of Latin Rhythm' which uses a sample of a a cool cat talking to his audience about the Bossa Nova. He is probably someone very famous, ... I have no idea... suffice it to say the combination of rimshot latin drums, seriously groovy stand up bass line, cool-as-you-like semi-acoustic rhythm guitar restrained effortless tenor sax and hip talk-over won me over and I still love it now.....smokin'!
Apart from that tune, I knew nothing about the band, and bought the album last week on a whim. Now experience has taught me that when you do these things, it can go either way, and I wasn't sure if it was going to be a waste of money....but I'm so glad I did. These guys are hot!
The opener 'This is not a Tango" has shades of The Gotans about it, the percussive accordian motifs playing off a lovely sinewy double bass line with skittering jazz drums. By the time the understated wah guitar and latin percussion kick in I'm grooving round the room like a good un. Feeling a little more optimistic we come to track two...'What is Hip?' luckily for all of us, hip IS track two! This real brooding swamp beast of a groover sees some superb low n dirty vocals from Carolyn Leonhart and Terry Callier soaring over Hammond driven grooves, that lovely nagging bass again, slick drumming, brass stabs. This is one hell of a mambo dance beast!
Whilst there are certainly no fillers on the album, some tracks dont quite hit the heights: Take Four, Do it Again (Dan cover) is fantastic apart from the iffy vocal, respectable tunes all right tho'.
El Bravo is a more authentic salsa tune with real Brazilian flava...a good mid tempo mover.
Funky Nassau is a real Afro gem. Bubbling along on Fela Kuti style brass, Hammond, funky guitar, effervescent drums, urgent congas bobbing and weaving... a bed of sound that moves and grooves in all the right places.
This is a great album that has already had a lot of hammer ... can't seem to prize it out of the CD player at the moment...and I predict it will get plenty more in the weeks and months ahead. A real find.