Scenes From My Life

Columbia Records (1999)

This gets my vote for debut jazz album of last year. This, despite the fact that it comes off – if you’re not really listening – so sweetly as an Afro-Cuban-spiced song collection by a pleasant-enough vocalist who happens to be a bassist, too. Well, wake up, fellow listeners. “Scenes From My Life” is a deceptively smooth introduction to a substantial artist who might simultaneously satisfy populist and elite elements of the jazz crowd. A prodigiously self-taught youth from a remote village in West African Cameroon, Bona came to the country’s capital, then to Paris, New York, and the world through the bands of proto-globo stars Harry Belafonte and Joe Zawinul. He can really write tunes, play, lead a band, and sing with the appealing soft-pedaled lyricism of the best Senegambian griots and Brazilian tropicalistas. On electric bass, Bona gives graceful lilt to a variety of funky chants and vamps, also applying the pure tone he’s derived from his hero Jaco (at his healthiest) to aching ballads and in-the-pocket riffs. Even more gratifying, Bona’s original songs (12 of them here) are superior – brimming with refreshing, singable melodies that trade on reggae, Latin jazz, and Afro-Diaspora music, but never less than musically. Each tune is distinctly set and memorable; highlights include the sharply fusionesque “Djonbwe,” the driving Cuban-styled “Te Dikalo,” the audibly seductive “One Minute” (the lone track Bona sings in English), and the string- quartet introduction on “Muna Nyuwe.” Bona’s titles may be obscure, but his message translates into real pleasure. The music is sunny, buoyant, mysterious, and up-to-date, perfect for sophisticated radio. In performance, he’s unforced and charismatic, in a league with a very boyish Gilberto Gil if not quite King Sunny Ade. And there’s jazz in the mix, melody that can be transmuted in multiple ways, rhythm that makes a difference, performance imbued with vitality and the belief that music matters. Bona’s authenticity shines through the slightest bit of gloss. As he grows into his personal but unabashedly accessible idiom, he’s already well worth hearing.

Tracklist

01. Dipita (Richard Bona) EMI Music Publishing France (SACEM)

02. New Bell (Richard Bona) EMI Music Publishing France (SACEM)

03. Souwedi Na Wengue (Frederic Favarel – Richard Bona) EMI Music Publishing France (SACEM)

04. Eyala (Pascal Danae – Richard Bona) EMI Music Publishing France (SACEM)

05. Djombwe (Richard Bona) EMI Music Publishing France (SACEM)

06. Te Dikalo (Richard Bona) EMI Music Publishing France (SACEM)

07. One Minute (Richard Bona – Sebastien Harry) Bro N Sis Music INC/EMI Music Publishing France/Nota Bene Music (SACEM)

08. Muna Nyuwe (Richard Bona)

09. Na Mala Nde (Richard Bona) EMI Music Publishing France (SACEM)

10. Konda Djanea (Richard Bona) EMI Music Publishing France (SACEM)

11. Eyando (Richard Bona) EMI Music Publishing France (SACEM)

12. Messanga (Richard Bona) EMI Music Publishing France (SACEM)