Salim Washington has been around for some time, but, it seems has only
recorded a handful of records. He used to play weekly gigs at St.
Nick’s in Harlem, though the shuttering of that venue as well as
Washington’s own relocation to South Africa to take up a teaching
position at the University of KwaZulu-Natal put the kibosh on that. One
particularly powerful performance was captured by CIMPoL a decade ago.
Apart from that and a few other albums primarily as leader, Washington
has been sparse in his recording output. That fact makes this album all
the more impressive.
With an all-star rhythm section of Tyshawn Sorey and Hilliard Greene as
well as the violist and vocalist Melanie Dyer (also featured on the
CIMPoL release) on three tracks, Washington has produced a record of
immense value. It harks back to the free bop of the 1970s. This may
come as little surprise as the title is a take on Julius Hemphill’s
1972 classic Dogon A.D.. On the first track, “To Know Yahweh,”
Washington plays a muscular sax over a swinging, hard-bop rhythm. The
second track, “New Invasion of Africa,” involves soft, atmospheric
mbira melodies that intermingle with Sorey’s intricate, jungle-styled
drumming. On top of this, Dyer reads Amiri Baraka’s biting 2011 poem
“New Invasion of Africa,” an unequivocal condemnation of
neo-colonialism and military interventionism first and foremost in
Libya. The shortest piece on the album, this track is key to unlocking
the potency of Dogon Revisited. It is rooted in tradition but
is also nuanced and new. It looks to the past, but to critique its
legacies. Take it as an inspired musical homage or a charged political
statement about the contemporary. Either way, it works.
Indeed, this is not a throwback album. It is a testament to continuity
and the continued relevance of decades-old musical forms. The rest of
the album elaborates this bent. Track three is a smoky, bluesy number.
On the following track, Washington picks up his oboe for a three-way
dialog that would have fit perfectly in a mid-1970’s loft in New York
City, but is somehow still contemporary. The fifth song, “Jamila,” is
one of the standouts. Washington’s flute fluctuates between spacious,
modal improvisation and hard-bop groove. The ever-resourceful Sorey
adopts a more abstract and active approach than on previous tracks.
Greene’s playing, meanwhile, is variegated, vigorous, and utterly
compelling. The next few cuts, including the simultaneously free and
sultry “Self-Love_Revolutionary Ontology,” likewise have one foot in
Hemphill’s 1970s and one in Washington’s 2018. “Dogon A.D.”, of course,
is a case in point. It may not be surprising, but this track is a
masterful rendition of Hemphill’s composition. All four musicians take
part to create the tightest, most powerful piece on the album.
Dogon, Revisited
is a surprisingly effective release. I say “surprisingly” not because
of the artists who perform – all already incredibly accomplished
musicians - but because I tend to reach for much older recordings when
I search for this type of music. This album, however, strikes a fine
balance between reverence and relevance. In a time when the post-Cold
War order seems to be unraveling, Washington refers us back to a time
when the post-Second World War order seemed to be imploding. He reminds
us that the struggles of the past continue, as do the musical
expressions of those struggles. And, he cautions that just as we
periodically forget our past and are caught off-guard when its legacies
confront us, the avant-garde – here, the American and Pan-African(?)
avant-garde - periodically needs to revisit its predecessors lest it
become too myopic, distant, and, ultimately, out of touch with the
contemporary world. If that is indeed what Dyer, Greene, Sorey, and
Washington are getting at, cheers to them. And if not, this is still an
album well worth picking up.
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