Mulatu Astatke & Hoodna Orchestra - Tension (CD)

Ethio-jazz pioneer Mulatu Astatke joins the Hoodna Orchestra, Tel Aviv’s number one Afro funk collective, melding his enchanting vibraphone playing with their brass heavy force across seven original compositions that play tribute to the classic Mulatu sound while forging fresh paths. Produced by and featuring Dap-King Neal Sugarman, the results are gritty, yet majestic, soulful and uplifting.

Mulatu Astatke requires little introduction at this point. Born in Jimma, Ethiopia, Mulatu went on to live and study in London, Boston and New York. Initially drawn to and trained in jazz and Latin music, he developed the sound he called “Ethio-jazz” over a series of seminal albums combining jazz, Latin, funk and soul, with traditional Ethiopian scales and rhythms.

Long a cornerstone of the Ethiopian recording industry, his albums and even guest appearances were long sought after by record collectors and music enthusiasts around the globe. However the release of an acclaimed ‘Éthiopiques’ compilation dedicated to his instrumental recordings in 1998, followed by the 2005 release of Jim Jarmush’s acclaimed ‘Broken Flowers’ film, which heavily featured Astatke’s irresistible music, introduced him to a much wider international audience. Mulatu would go on to be sampled by the likes of Nas, Kanye West, Cut Chemist and Madlib, whilst touring to large audiences across the globe, and collaborating with London-based psych jazz collective, the Heliocentrics.

Formed in 2012 on the south side of Tel Aviv, the 12 member Hoodna Orchestra is a collective of musicians and composers who initially bonded over a shared love of Afrobeat. They have gone on to incorporate psychedelic rock, hard funk and soul, jazz, and East African music into their sought after releases, winning praise and airplay from the likes of Iggy Pop and Huey Morgan on BBC Radio 6 Music. The collective draws together a huge array of musical talents such as guitarist Ilan Smilan and organist Eitan Drabkin of Sababa 5 fame, Shalosh trio drummer Matan Assayag, and percussionist Rani Birenbaum of The Faithful Brothers, many of whom also contribute compositions to the orchestra, ensuring its collaborative environment.

Over time, members of the orchestra came to find they shared a growing interest in Ethiopian music, particularly the Ethio-jazz of Mulatu Astatke. Since releasing a recording with Ethiopian singer Tesfaye Negatu, Hoodna Orchestra had been looking to find ways to collaborate with Astatke himself and in early 2023 the opportunity arose to invite Astatke to Tel Aviv, record an album and perform it live for their home audience. Stars aligned as Neal Sugarman, multi-instrumentalist member of the Dap-Kings and co-founder of Daptone Records, joined and produced the session with Smilan.

The album commences with title track “Tension”, leading Mulatu’s signature sound in a new, rhythmically intense direction, hence the name, providing fresh creative ground for the collaborators. Astatke’s vibraphone sets the scene, before drummer Matan Assayag attacks the beat and Nadav Bracha’s marching bassline and Rani’s percussion propel the track forward, and Hoodna’s brass section delivers a classic Ethio motif. Mulatu’s enchanting vibraphone solo is followed by a blistering tenor sax solo by Eylon Tushiner. This is Ethio-jazz on turbochargers.

Recorded towards the end of their session, “Major” provides a whole new dimension, joyously and effortlessly swinging out of the speakers after “Tension”. You can sense how comfortable the band feels together at this point. The track features a superb organ solo by Drabkin. The Smilan composed “Hatula” embodies the sound of a cat prowling outside on a hot summer’s night with poise and finesse, before building into a great crescendo that belies the feline creature’s unpredictable behavior and wilder instincts. “Yashan” on the other hand is classic smoke-filled- lounge Ethio-jazz with an undercurrent of tension you can cut with a knife, with the Elad Gellert baritone sax solo lulling you into a false sense of security.

The Latin-jazz tinged grooves of “Delilah” play homage to the early roots of Mulatu’s sound. Leading the song’s key motif, Tushiner’s seductive flute is well balanced by Smilan’s guitar, proceeding beautifully into an enchanting solo by Astatke himself. Tushiner takes an extended turn himself, soloing like Hungarian guitar legend Gábor Szabó, if only he’d moved to Cairo instead of San Francisco. Joined by Sugarman on saxophones, the brass section plays a subtle but important role on his occasion, gently accompanying in the background.

The album closes fittingly with “Dung Gate”. A Birenbaum composition, the track features slow, heavy, melodic motif led by the brass section, counterbalanced by a tidal wave of percussion and hand-clapping. One can imagine the band slowly marching out of the venue through the crowd at the end of their show, the audience clapping in time with the orchestra’s brass and percussion, recalling another legend, the late great Sun Ra.

On one hand, ‘Tension’ is clearly a deeply personal tribute by the Hoodna Orchestra to iconic Mulatu Astatke, but at the same time the recordings emit a remarkable amount of chemistry, and together they have created an essential addition to Mulatu’s rich discography that charts new directions in his Ethio-jazz trajectory and provides the Hoodna Orchestra with their strongest album to date.