Graham Haynes - BPM (CD)

Multiplicity Review: Graham Haynes - B.P

By D'ArmousB  Jun 28, 2000

For his first offering of the new century, Graham Haynes gives us BPM (for non-DJ's, that stands for beats per minute). While it has ties to his previous release, Tones for the 21st Century, BPM is a positive step forward.As the unofficial successor... to Don Cherry, Graham is constantly searching for new sounds and environments to surround his musical ideas with. Of late, he has been involved with the elctronica genre. With its blips and beeps, Tones was more akin to the ambient genre, but BPM combines the jazz aesthetic with the drive of Drum & Bass music. This concept works best on "Telluride", which includes the live drumming of long time cohort Marque Gilmore, brother of guitarist David Gilmore. In fact, Marque's solo on this track is a highlight, including the Austin Powers reference at the end.If you need a jump start in the morning, just put on Graham's first track "Variations on a Theme by Wagner", which combines themes from composer Richard Wagner's "Parsifal" with Drum & Bass beats. "Variation No. 2" continues this combination, but with a jazzier feel.Graham recorded this CD using Emagic's LogicAudio software, programming the majority of the beats himself. He added some cool effects to his horn as well as manipulate samples of his recorded solos. (Did I say he was the successor of Don Cherry? Maybe he is really a successor to the mid-'70's Miles Davis.) Some of the songs seem to be exercises on what he can do with the software; such as on "Inn A Most". On this track, his cornet doesn't appear at all. Instead, he divides the tracks between Drum & Bass beats and Raga-esque vocal patterns. Other tracks, such as "Red Zone" are more closely related to the Tones recording. After a while, these tracks became monotonous..Overall I liked BPM much better than his previous release, but I don't think it is as good as his last two Polygram released, The Griots Footsteps and the slamming Transition, which includes heavyweight guitarists Vernon Reid and Jean-Paul Bourelly. Hopefully his next outing will give us more insight to Haynes' ever evolving vision.For more reviews, visit the Multiplicity Webzine site at http:/
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