Lewis Jordan, alto saxophone and poetry
Jen Shyu, vocals and violin
John-Carlos Perea, electric bass
Jimmy Biala, multiple percussion
Charles Alston, recitation
Joe Mailhot, slide guitar
Akinyele Sadiq, percussion

In this recording Lewis Jordan expands on his travels as a Zen Baptist. Aptly named, the recording is Zen -in the moment and of the moment, the moment that is eternal, and it is Baptist -in the spirit and of the spirit, the spirit that is omnipresent. In his first Travels of a Zen Baptist album Lewis Jordan started on foot, walking easy and sure, as we set out with him and Mark Izu on a journey of music, politics and spirit. More Travels of a Zen Baptist is instead a caravan with Bertolt Brecht, Paul Laurence Dunbar, John Coltrane and Albert Ayler joining with Jordan to provide the cartography, while skilled traveling companions including Jennifer Shyu, who offers engaging vocals and sweet violin tones, John-Carlos Perea, who contributes thoughtful and verdant electric bass lines, and Jimmy Biala, who chimes in with sparse and tasty percussion, are led by the multi-faceted Jordan, who can be found swinging on alto sax, reciting heartfelt poems, or heating up the room with his harmonica, as Jordan leads his cavalcade through byways and over mountain crests. At one oasis stop you will also chance upon Akinyele Sadiq's refreshing tambourine rhythms, Joe Mailhot's sly slide guitar blues riffs and Charles Alston's sonorous recitation of a Dunbar poem. Together these musicians alternately ride, fly, dance, and hike through a range of continents, climates and cultures. Traditions are expounded, freedom is expressed, and innovation and individuality are asserted. The sounds are clean and sharp, at times with a deceptive simplicity that veil layers of thought. The journey is indeed bittersweet as Jordan works through our times which are, as the opening poem song avers, dark. Issues of homelessness, creation, growth and dissolution, an incantation to Charlie Parker, and expressions of love and continued struggle are intertwined in this absorbing collection. Lewis Jordan continues to grow as music maker, composer and poet, and has created an experience that balances the languages of verse and harmonics, the ideals of harmony and dissonance, and the paradox of humor within despair in performances and without an audience, that are healing salve, prodding investigation and open invitation for us to dance, sing and join these able musicians on their intriguing journey.

devorah major
San Francisco Poet Laureate
September, 2002

for more information:
Music at Large
P.O. Box 421414
San Francisco, CA 94142-1414