Regina Carter

Reverse Thread

(E1)

Record Review by Adam McKibbin

We do a crap job of funding the arts in America – these days, you’re lucky if your kid even has access to band or orchestra class at school – but when we do it, by golly, we can still do it big.  Jazz violinist Regina Carter has long been tagged a virtuoso, but thanks to the MacArthur Foundation, she was able to add an even loftier word to the “Special Skills” section of her resume:  genius.  The $500,000 MacArthur “genius grant” afforded Carter the opportunity to take a deep dive into traditional and modern African music – a dream project that she had assumed would take many years to complete.  Reverse Thread could have been the culmination of a career’s work – and indeed it has that level of accomplishment.

Reverse Thread wastes no time getting to the good stuff, starting with the jubilant “Hiwumbe Awumba,” a traditional piece based on field recordings of Ugandan Jews.  It’s later bookended by album closer “Mwana Talitambula,” another Abayudaya piece that’s much more reflective but every bit as satisfying.  At the front of the album, the festivities continue with “Full Time,” written and arranged by bassist Mamadou Ba, who appears on several tracks on the album, and featuring the interesting instrumental combination of kora (Yacouba Sissoko) and accordion (Gary Versace).  Both Sissoko and Versace leave lasting impressions on the album as well.  As for Carter, her work on violin is as gripping as one would expect from someone blessed/burdened with the lofty expectations of “genius.”  Just as importantly to the technical skill and the academic interest – especially for those who aren’t regulars in the world in jazz or even instrumental music in general – is that Carter and her collaborators are first-rate storytellers.  In that way more than any other, Reverse Thread lives up to its ambition, passing down eclectic and varied traditions through its own unique filter.  Carter even adds a highlight of her own to the canon; “Day Dreaming on the Niger” is her lone composition, but it fits seamlessly alongside the staples and unearthed treasures.