Voices

Amazon.ca Longstanding fans of Mike Stern's jazz-rock guitar playing may label Voices as his "world music album", but he doesn't come across as just another musician jumping on the international rhythms bandwagon. As the title suggests, the nine-track disc is actually conversations that Stern has with various vocalists, including the exciting Cameroonian singer and bassist Richard Bona. Most of the singing is done in the wordless vocal style, with Stern swooping and swirling in and around the singers, in musical dialogues built on the solid compositional grounds that Stern always constructs for his records. Bona is featured on the first two songs, "One World" and "The River", the latter featuring a lyric by the singer in his native tongue, while Elizabeth Kontomanou and Phillip Hamilt on perform on the others. Kontomanou is particularly effective on two deliberate and simmering ballads, "Slow Change" and "What Might Have Been", both of which are less influenced by world music than the three great tracks where the singers work in harmony with Stern's guitar. "Wishing Well", "Spirit" and "Leni's Smile" are all uplifting pieces that get the best out of the album's theme. The hottest track may be "Way Out East", an exploration of jazz fusion at its finest, in which jazz is fused with the rhythms of India. Saxophonist Michael Brecker makes a searing guest appearance on the tune. --Mark Ruffi