Pasa Tempos

Antonio Sanchez & Migration’s The Meridian Suite and Nneka’s My Fairy Tales

(CAM Jazz) Drummer Antonio Sanchez, who had his recording debut in 2007 with Migration, gained renown with a score — solely percussion and all improvised — for the 2014 film Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance). Then he released two CDs this spring — Three Times Three, featuring Sanchez playing with three trios, and The Meridian Suite. In the liner notes, he recalls deciding to approach The Meridian Suite more like a novel than a collection of short stories. He “wanted to create imaginary lines in which motifs, emotions, ideas, and melodies flow, meet and intertwine.” The episodic and fusionistic opener, “Grids and Patterns,” is a complex musical weaving, featuring beautiful unison voicings between guest singer Thana Alexa and Seamus Blake on electric wind instrument (EWI). John Escreet’s piano solo evolves from delicate and spare to feverish; Sanchez and Albuquerque-raised bassist Matt Brewer further energize the proceedings. A staid piano intro sets a slower pace for “Imaginary Lines,” although the piece is equally dynamic. Alexa sings poetic lines and Adam Rogers’ guitar and Blake’s EWI and tenor sax add drama. “Channels of Energy” begins with fuzzed-out block chords, Sanchez all over the kit, before the introduction of a driving riff. Blake blows a feral, spooky EWI lead, and then Escreet takes his turn, digging into the mix on the Fender Rhodes as the group builds suspensefully to a climax. This is a hell of an album. — Paul Weideman

NNEKA My Fairy Tales (Bushqueen Music) A major star in Europe and Africa, Nneka Egbuna has yet to break out before American audiences despite her Lilith Fair tours and David Letterman show appearances. Her sound has no natural home in a radio genre. She sings and scats her way through a downtempo dancehall influenced by Afro-pop, American R& B, and the loungey atmospherics of Burt Bacharach songs. On her fifth album, released independently on her own label, the vocalist returns to her roots in reggae and Afrobeat. The opener “Believe System” is a slow-burning, syncopated prayer, addressed like many of the songs on this album, to the strife in her native Nigeria. “Pray For You” finds her confronting the many crimes of Boko Haram. Displaying a harsh forgiveness, she croons, “You’ve scattered my home/I’ll still pray for you.” In the tradition of Marley-era reggae, she fuses Old Testament prophecy, calls to personal perseverance, and syncopated call-andresponse lyrics on “Book of Job.” On “My Love, My Love,” a warm church organ bathes a sugary dancehall gospel melody to give this album the closest thing it has to a pop hit. — Casey Sanchez