Give the Drummer Some

カルロス・サンタナの奥方にしてジャズ/ロックの凄腕ドラマー、シンディ・ブラックマン待望の新作!収録曲の半分にサンタナが参加、さらに盟友のジョン・マクラフリンやメタリカのカーク・ハメット、リヴィング・カラーのヴァーノン・リードも召喚!さらにプロデュースをナラダ・マイケル・ウォルデンが担当した規格外の豪華ラテン・フュージョン作品。ファンキーなラテン・ロックからハードロックさながらのジャズ・ロック、さらにご本人がボーカルを取ったR&B路線まで、バラエティに富んだ全17曲。なによりシンディのパワフルでポジティヴなドラム・プレイがカッコイイ!(c)新宿店：TANAKAHMANN

Cindy Blackman Santana is known by pop fans for her long tenure as a drummer with Lenny Kravitzs touring group and her kit work in Santana. Since the 1980s, jazz fans have regarded her as a first-call session player, bandleader, composer, and recording artist. Shes cut more than a dozen albums and appeared on more than 100. Give the Drummer Some is a sprawling, genre-crossing, 17-track set that reveals Blackman Santanas gifts in the above categories, as well as her fine vocal and production skills. She composed all but one tune here and produced or co-produced nine tracks, with Narada Michael Walden helming the remainder. In addition to appearances by husband Carlos Santana, she enlisted guitarists John McLaughlin, Vernon Reid, and Metallicas Kirk Hammett in a star-studded cast. She opens with a radical read of John Lennons Imagine. Cindy, Carlos, and bassist Angeline Saris offer a hard funk-rock vamp with keyboards adding punch to the low end. Carlos signature playing quotes late Funkadelic guitarist Eddie Hazel amid the drummers whomping fills and breaks. Cindy delivers the lyrics with resolve, even as the Funkadelic-esque backing chorus buoys her. We Came to Play is delivered by a riffing fusion trio that includes McLaughlin and bassist Matt Garrison. Its vamp gives way to knotty, intense shredding. Shes Got It Goin On is a funky rock rave-up with an infectious vocal hook, choogling organ, deep funk breaks, and biting guitars from Matthew Charles Heulitt. Miles Away is a short tribute to Miles Davis; Bill Ortizs muted trumpet and Benny Rietvelds bass lead the silvery chart appended by Cindys syncopated drumming and Neal Evans electric piano. Everybodys Dancin is modeled on Curtis Mayfields goseplized approach to soul, its breezy three-chord vamp sets up Carlos stinging guitar fills with a stirring vocal from Cindy. Velocity offers instrumental, guitarless fusion by the leader with Garrison and Evans that recalls Jaco-period Weather Report. Superbad (not the James Brown tune) is screaming acid funk with furious kit work and a steamy vocal appended by a filthy bassline, careening synth, and screaming guitar from McLaughlin. Set highlight You Dont Want to Break My Heart is a glorious soul ballad. Cindys vocal is resonant; its spirit evokes Marvin Gaye as Carlos supports her with some of his most emotional work here. Evolution Revolution is spiraling hard rock featuring Reid and Hammett in a shred fest. Twilight Mask is a long, snaky, future blues instrumental offered with echoplexed drums in a trio with Carlos and Santana band rhythm section partner bassist Benny Rietveld. Closer Black Pearl is a moody jazz instrumental driven by lyric drumming inside a quintet. Reid and Carlos inventively dialog with Cindy, Evans, and one another. Give the Drummer Somes only problem is its sometimes-tricky sequencing -- with a palette this wide, its almost unavoidable. That said, the music provides a truly remarkable showcase for Blackman Santanas depth as a musical renaissance woman, whose signature is marked by infectious grooves and a truckload of soul. ~ Thom Jurek