Imagine a saxophonist walking into a Native American pow-wow or drum circle, conjuring up some melodies while the percussion follows. Think in terms of compositions, improvisational jamming and a free exchange of ideas and that’s what Dap-Kings saxophonist Cochemea Gastelum and fellow Dap-kIng, producer Gabe Roth conjured up for this session, All My Relations. It was conceived during Sharon Jones and The Dap-kings final year of touring as Roth and Cochemea cast 10 New York-based musicians to develop a melodic, percussive conversation. Cochemea says, “it was a beautiful experience – people would start playing and we’d work up these arrangements on the spot, then record it.”
First, let’s discuss Cochemea before returning to this album. He’s always had polyrhythmic sensibilities. His roots in jazz, Latin, funk and rock led to multiple fours with funk-jazz organist Robert Walter’s 20th Congress and connected him with Sharon Jones & the D-K. He played tenor with The Budos Band and Antibalas and baritone sax on the Amy Winehouse sessions before becoming a full-fledge Dap-King in 2009. In terms of work like this effort, he recorded a solo album of soul, funk, and Afro-Latin Jazz, The Electric Sound of Johnny Arrow. He was a featured soloist in the award-winning Broadway play Fela!, which led to performances in Nigeria.
The personal and spiritual nature of the music traces directly to Cochemea’s roots. He is a California native with Yaqui and Mescalero Apache Indian ancestry. His name is a heave one – “they were all killed asleep.” This album is meditation on his ancestry.”…Some of it is a memory that is imagined from a time and place I’ve never bee (‘Sonora”) or a musical expression of ritual (“Mitote”), Cochemea says. “I felt compelled to add the way I feel when I go ceremony, when I feel connected with my ancestors, to the musical narrative.”
The ten track LP begins with “Maso Ye’eme” as the group eases into some percussive rhythms that may remind you of that famous Santana “Soul Sacrifice” from Woodstock. Cochemea’s melody plays like an invocation. The translation is “Deer Dancer” in Yaqui and it leads directly into the title track. “All My Relations” is meant to sound like the Drum at Pow Wows. The cumbia bass line is played on a Moroccan string instrument, the Gimbre. It’s full of chanting. Led by Cochemea. You’ll even hear “ain’t gonna build no wall.” Before he ends it like a prayer.
The double-headed Indian drum, the Dhol, is a featured instrument in “Mitote.” The melody is like a blues to connote an ancient Aztec dance that’s been associated with peyote ritual. “Al-MU-‘Tasim” (‘he who seeks shelter in God’) features Gabe Roth on the Gimbre again. Although Cochemea plays electric sax on more than one track, he points to Gato Barbieri and Eddie Harris for the influence of the nature piece “Seyewailo,” the most melodic piece on the disc.
”Asatoma” is based on a Sanskirt prayer and features the interplay between table and kinjara, a south Indian frame drum. Cochemea plays bass clarinet on this one inspired by Bennie Maupin’s work on Big Fun with Miles Davis. Cochemea originally wrote “Sonora” as a Bossanova but at Roth’s suggestion, took out the chords. Sonora is the home of his ancestors, the Yaquis. “Los Muertos” was apparently recorded around five or six in the morning, hence its dark, moody feeling.
”Mescalero” employs Mexican rhythms, specifically the Mexican Huapongo, in reference to his grandmother, a Mescalero Apache from New Mexico. Cochemea’s flute carries the melody. He concludes with “Song of Happiness,” inspired by Jim Pepper, who combined Native melodies with gospel feeling. The chorus comes from a Navajo melody which Cochemea heard many years ago. As the title suggests, it’s clearly one of the most upbeat tunes.
The beauty of this creative work is that you’ll hear different sounds almost every time you play it. The melodies are infectious, and the playing is immensely inspired. It’s a risky concept that succeeds brilliantly.
