Cover of the album being discussed
Yesterday saw the release of the latest (third) album of the Omar Thomas Large Ensemble. The title of the album is Griot Songs, and it was inspired by the West African griot traditions. The griot is a storyteller, who unfolds his narratives through the poetry and music of songs. Nevertheless, this is a big band album entirely devoid of vocals.
As big band performances go, I tended to enjoy much of the approaches to instrumentation. However, the compositions themselves tended to be on the bland side; and I have to confess that they never trigged any sense of storytelling, whether by a griot or any other storyteller. Even the liner notes seemed to be more about Thomas himself than the stories that his music was supposed to embody. According to those notes, the seven tracks on the album were the result of sixteen years of effort; but I must confess that I was reminded about the old joke about a lioness that could give birth only to a mouse!
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