This is a great little film doc on the recording sessions which led to the just released, and excellent, Daxaar on Domino Records.
From Domino:
Steve Reid made his recording debut in 1964, aged 19, playing on Martha and the Vandellas’ classic “Dancing in the Street”. He went on to accompany the greatest of the jazz greats – legendary figures such as Miles Davis, Archie Shepp, Sun Ra and David Murray; and also soul legends such as James Brown, Dionne Warwick and Chaka Khan. Throughout Steve Reid has remained one of the true independent innovators. His new album Daxaar is a brand new collection of rhythmic ideas captured during his first visit to Africa in over four decades.
Reid likes to tackle life spontaneously and he took that spirit into this project. “Jazz is just like the newspaper of the music world,” laughs Reid. “A carnival of the shit that goes on at a particular moment. When you can improvise on the rhythms you can’t go wrong. People need some regular happy music right now. This is what I wanted to bring from Africa, just regular groovy, happy music.”
And indeed the album certainly is. If you’re at all a fan of what they call a rhythm and a groove, this record is a playground.