The sun is starting to rise during the early morning hours, and before heading to the airport, travelers make their ritualistic check of the weather on their preferred television or radio station of choice. As always, a laid-back, gentle, but driving groove plays in the background as the forecast is displayed and spoken. Often and shamefully, viewers are too concerned with their weather forecast to pay attention to the music, but if one were to hear the grooves of the Grammy-nominated and multi-instrumentalist, Najee and his latest release, Mind Over Matter, they might sit back, take in the forecast, and a little extra something to satisfy their ears.
A follow-up to his 2007 Rising Sun, Mind Over Matter exercises Najee’s creative chops over a new batch of compositions, with special appearances by guest vocalist, Eric Benét, and keyboardist, Jeff Lorber. Characterized by thick and lush instrumental arrangements over which Najee’s saxophone and flute melodies soar, strong backbeats and smooth, stacked vocal harmonies, are abundant. The infectious grooves of tracks like “Love You A Lifetime,” “Mind Over Matter,” and the carefully navigated tempo and vocal phrasing of Eric Benét on “We Gone Ride” are all tracks that emphasize Najee’s ability to capture and maintain a gentle stranglehold on listeners’ ears.
“The Journey” features a lightly played, but thickly voiced piano intro by Jeff Lorber, and the almost invisible entrance of the rhythm section accompanied by Najee’s melodic alto saxophone makes for a gentle, relaxing track midway through the album. No sooner after listeners are gently guided out of the aural watercolors of “The Journey,” the strong backbeat, funkiness, and unison keyboard and saxophones lines of “Stolen Glances” welcome listeners back to a head-bopping groove. Intertwined with melodic motifs, Najee’s bebop chops surface in appropriate bits and pieces throughout “Stolen Glances” – the man obviously has many avenues of musical direction beneath his trademark brown fedora. “Needless to Say” features a lush array of major seventh chords in a light chord progression over which Najee effortlessly glides without breaking a sweat, further showcasing his aura of soothing tones. Fellow performer Gary Taylor joins in to close out the album with the easy-flowing “Moon Over Carolina,” as Najee fills in the chorus’ vocal lines in a call and response fashion.
Obviously an experienced musician and composer, Najee possesses all the qualities necessary for a quality album: musicianship, compositions, and production. The tracks, while diverse from one to another, all fit appropriately into the batch as a whole; each track emanates a certain color that allows it to not only stand well on its own, but as a collection – the tracks comprise the colors that can be seen in a piece of artwork. For those who appreciate quality artwork, music, and a sense of reactive relaxation…take a spin through Mind Over Matter – it does the mind and body good.
Matt Jaworski–Muzikreviews.com Staff
July 3, 2009