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Greeting’s jazz enthusiasts, on this gorgeous Friday I’m enthralled to introduce a gentleman’s music I’ve never heard prior to this post named Mulatu Astatke. Reviewers describe his music as being jazzy, funky, delicate, rough and hypnotic! With this blending of organic textures his music is bound to be worthy of sampling … go to: Amazon.com and check out the MP3 clips available and let your ears be the judge. —Rob Young/The Urban Flux

Mulatu Astatke - Mulatu Steps Ahead
Mulatu Astatqe -|- ‘Mulatu Steps Ahead‘ – [Strut, 2010]
Just got the new Mulatu Astatke recording–Mulatu Steps Ahead (Strut 056CD). I believe this is his first recording of all new material since the 70s. His band is members of the Either Orchestra, a Boston area (semi) big band with a recording in the Ethiopiques series– #20.
It was apparent from the outset that it was going to be very strong. I can say that depending on which context you wish to adopt, it may be his strongest work ever. From my standpoint, that is unequivocally so. His earliest recordings were fabulous in part because he was so young and impressionable when he made them. He was eager to embrace and expound upon a wide range of styles, influences he’d soaked up, primarily from western sources, and incorporate them in multiples of ways into the music of his native Ethiopia. As a result, the pieces in those recordings tended to bounce around, stylistically, a lot–which in his best recordings was a plus. Continue reading