Galliano
In Pursuit Of The 13th Note

If it is now a point of pride to remain firm and uncompromising in one's genre, intelligently exploring every nuance but strongly denying any contamination, in the '90s it was quite the opposite: just think of electronic artists like Chemical Brothers or Leftfield always ready to mix techno, house, rock, funk, hip-hop and more, or singer-songwriters who became symbols of the nineties like Beck and Manu Chao, both impossible to classify under just one genre.

It is therefore with great pleasure that today I want to bring your attention to an album that was released right at the beginning of the last decade (in '91, to be precise), "In Pursuit Of The 13th Note", the debut of the Galliano project: a true pillar of acid-jazz and the crown jewel of Gilles Peterson's Talkin' Loud, the collective led by Rob Gallagher makes its long-distance debut after years of warming up audiences across England and amazes with its colorful multi-faceted proposal.
The album is a kaleidoscope of sounds and cultures: it strolls nonchalantly between freak poetry, African echoes, Jamaican suggestions, typically metropolitan polemical vision, and a jazzy mood. It's hard to categorize it all: imagine Black Uhuru, Donald Fagen, De La Soul, James Brown, Joe Strummer, Fela Kuti, Augustus Pablo, and Sade gathered together for the occasion in a mega studio and lost in an endless jam-session of astonishing creativity and inspiration.

The album winds sinuously through the tracks, all of excellent quality, and playfully and sweetly flirts with the listener, leading them on an unforgettable journey around the continents, between the icy lights of clubs and the soft colors that explode at dawn on some tropical beach. How can one not let go from the first track, "Leg In The Sea Of History" which presents itself as an intro and then proceeds delicately between Rob's rapping and the band's delicate, jazzy accompaniment: a warm greeting, an inviting handshake, and let the experience begin...
And then one surprise after another pops up: the bouncing rhythm between funky and reggae of "Coming On Strong" cannot help but bring good humor in its sly simplicity; "Sweet You Like Your Favorite Gears" is a very classic and almost swing jazz divertissement of exquisite craftsmanship; "Cemetary Of Drums" is beautiful and mysterious, a captivating and warm lull for voodoo ceremonies. The raggamuffin interlude of "Storm Cloud Gather" rides on a dancing rhythm, while "Nothing Had Changed" wisely crosses downtempo mists and r'n'b warmth.

"Power And Glory" is the apex of what was then defined as acid-jazz: a limber rhyming marries wonderful soul vocalizations on a base of soft percussions and refined lightweight piano virtuosity. "Stoned Again" would not have looked out of place on "3 Feet High and Rising", but is enhanced by the live-played base; "Reviewing The Situation" is spectacular in its uncertainty between exoticism and offbeat rhythms; while "Ghetto Boy" is super sexy funky, and it seems impossible that it comes from the rainy land of Albion...

By the end of the album, there's a mad craving to start listening again, so fresh and fragrant is the sound of Galliano: it's a shame that such a dynamic and inventive band was forgotten so quickly. Luckily, there's always time to make amends... So what are you waiting for?!