Search - Grand Kalle & African Jazz :: Nzambe E Mungu

Great music, shame about transfers

Yves F. Smierciak | Chicago, Illinois United States | 12/26/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"All Grand Kalle recordings would be 5 stars, being that Joseph Kasabele was (along with Franco and Jean Serge Essous the fathers of the Congoeese reumba)one of Africa's greatest recording artists. The music on this CD is no exception, it's a series of these recordings made after Nico and Rochereau left the band in early 1963 to form African Fiesta. Featured are such stellar musicians like Papa Noel on guitar and the curiously underatted Jean Bombenga sharing vocal duties with Kalle. Why then 4 stars, you may ask? Simple, the sound quality is way too muffeled, it has been over filtered and has little of the sonic spectrum the orginial recordings have (please note to reissue companies, tape hiss and crackles on 78 and 45 rpm records are not as bad as filtering the sound of the "room" of the orginial recording). Never the less try finding the orginials, and you see why I still recommend this CD (or any by this great artist), Yves Francois"