Valley Star

Issue date: 4/16/08 Section: Valley Life

Tribal Door-John Densmore, drummer for the legendary rock band The Doors, has recently released his first jazz album titled "Tribal Jazz."Scott Mitchell/ Valley Star

The seeds for this musical adventure began over 40 years ago, when John Densmore, the legendary drummer for the rock band, The Doors, first fell in love with jazz.

"As a teenager, I went to Tijuana and got a fake ID so I could perform in clubs, but especially to get into Shelly's Manne Hole. There isn't one great jazz musician you could name that I didn't see play live. I sat next to Art Blakey and studied his press rolls, I could imitate Elvin Jones style perfectly. I saw Miles, I saw Monk, etc., etc." reflects, Densmore.

The result of this musical collaboration with composer musician Art Ellis is an amazing and exciting fusion of jazz and tribal African sounds that offer a message to the world. The message is one of unity, community, and celebration.

"There are many villages represented on the CD, as well as in this group of musicians. NYC is one, the streets of Senegal is another. Both genders are present here, and several shades of color-white, black, brown, and hopefully every hue in-between. Can all of these villages, live together, in peace, as one community? We hope that the feeling you get from listening is of a global village that tolerates-in fact, celebrates, the diversity and extraordinary range of cultures on planet Earth." states Densmore in the album art.

The sound of Tribal Jazz is a traditional quartet (keys, bass, drums, reeds), fuel-injected with two master African drummers.

"Orange Midnight" is a perfect blend of urban jazz and primal African rhythms. "The First Time (I heard Coltrane)" describes Densmore's teenage experience hearing the jazz icon (John Coltrane) live. Alfre Woodard's sultry delivery of the spoken word adds a poetic flavor and layer to this catchy song. A nice surprise in "Tribal Jazz", that Doors fans will be pleased to find, is a tribal version of the Jim Morrison song, "Riders On The Storm."

When asked to describe the the production of the album, Densmore commented that," the album was produced by me and our reedman Art Ellis. After making many albums with the Doors, I realized that I heard the world. Photographers and painters see the world. This experience made me very confident about the world of sound. We tried to create a landscape of sound. Putting the listener literally in the jungle with natural sounds of birds and animals, in a jazz club, with audience sounds."

Tribal Jazz is an easy listen that will have you coming back for more. John Densmore and company will be performing locally May 7 thru 10 at the Catalina Bar and Grill in Hollywood, as well as the UCLA Jazz Festival, May 25. A follow up CD is already in the works.

To learn more about John Densmore and Tribal Jazz go online to tribaljazz.com, johndensmore.com, and hiddenbeach.com

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