Key To Nowhere

After the IKEF reissues of the first two albums by Brother Ah (aka Robert Northern, ex-Sun Ra French horn player, flutist, music therapist, and educator), the extraordinary Sound Awareness, originally on Strata East and notable for an extended rap from none other than Max Roach, and 1975's Move Ever Onward, comes Key to Nowhere, recorded in 1983. Like Move Ever Onward, this was originally issued on Ah's own Divine Records imprint and features Ah on flute, horn, harmonica, nayamka, and shell horn leading an octet including Jeff Majors on harp and thumb piano and Natasha Hassam Youssef on vocals. Majors' harp work inevitably invokes the spirit of Alice Coltrane and his mbira flourishes on the pentatonic 12/8 jam "Sekou" recall Earth, Wind & Fire's Maurice White, and there's a good splash of Ramsey Lewis' "Wade in the Water" on "Hanifah," but the album wears its heart on its sleeve well and never comes across as maudlin, the odd ham-fisted lyric notwithstanding. ~ Dan Warburton