Omar And Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird

Se Dice Bisonte, No Bгfalo is Omar Rodriguez-Lopez's (The Mars Volta) third full-length recording. The players on this set include Mars Volta members Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez, Juan Alderete de la Peña, and Adrián Terrazas-González, with guest appearances by "Money Mark" Ramos-Nishita and Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante. It was recorded mostly in Amsterdam with supplemental recording and mixing done in Los Angeles. The set opens with two brief sketches, the 26-second improvisation "The Lukewarm" and "Luxury of Infancy," a Spanish blues melody played over skeletal interlaced guitars. It may only be a minute and 15 seconds long, but it carries within it all the heart one needs to know that something special is in store…

With his gravelly vocals that fall between Wolfman Jack and Howlin' Wolf, along with an ever-changing band of Howlers, Kent "Omar" Dykes charges through more rootsy boogie, blues, and rock & roll. For his first album of original material in four years, Dykes invited professional songwriters Darden Smith, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Stephen Bruton, and Alejandro Escovedo to co-write these 11 tunes. That not only elevates the quality of the tracks - especially lyrically - but also adds dashes of country and folk-rock to the mix. It diversifies but does not diminish Omar's gritty sound, and makes this one of his most accomplished and exciting recordings. Guest Howlers like guitarists Chris Duarte, Jon Dee Graham, and Malcolm "Papa Mali" Welbourne, along with Stevie Ray Vaughan's old Double Trouble rhythm section, and Zappa/Jeff Beck drummer Terry Bozzio all contribute to the bone-shaking proceedings…

Though they share an ancestral connection to Africa, the respective birthplaces of piano virtuoso Omar Sosa and kora Maestro Seckou Keita, Cuba and Senegal, are separated by the Atlantic Ocean. When the pair met in 2012, Seckou admired Omar for his musical spirituality, whilst Omar saw in Seckou a rare ability to collaborate while retaining his musical identity. Their debut album, Transparent Water, was released to acclaim in 2017. Recorded during lockdown, the pair’s second album, SUBA, is a hymn to hope, to a new dawn of compassion and real change in a post-pandemic world. Joining Omar and Seckou in the studio, and for live performances, is the inimitable Venezuelan percussionist Gustavo Ovalles.

While any of Liszt's superb transcriptions of Beethoven's first eight symphonies is a challenge for the pianist, the two-piano arrangement of the Ninth is at once spellbinding and a formidable test. This remarkable synthesis of soloists, chorus and orchestra presents a powerful structure that condenses all the fearsome difficulties of ensemble playing for the two pianists. This version by Philippe Cassard and Cédric Pescia displays extraordinary nobility, truth and grandeur, with the epic sweep ideally suited to the "Ode to Joy".

One doesn't recall Omar & the Howlers as a straight-out jump blues combo, but it looks as if they're on the bandwagon with this CD. Omar Dykes has a squirrelly voice that falls between sandpaper gruff and churlish shouting, a cross twixt Dr. John and Howlin' Wolf. Help from the capable Howlers, big-time backup from saxophonists David "Fathead" Newman and Mark "Kaz" Kazanoff and harmonica whiz Gary Primich on three cuts gives Omar, who also plays guitar throughout, all the support and inspiration he needs. As much as the band does predictably jump and swing hard on the majority of these cuts, there's always a surprise. Obvious choices like "Hit the Road Jack," "Just Like a Woman," and the hardest swinger "So Mean to Me" come naturally. Taj Mahal's loping "Going up to the Country" is one that fits Omar's range perfectly, and he really cops "the Wolf" on "Yellow Coat."

This is Omar Dykes' 50th anniversary CD and the first Omar & the Howlers release with new material since Boogie Man in 2004. With a recorded history of over 20 titles, this is the first release on Omar's own Big Guitar Music label, with more planned from this still active 21st century bluesman. Omar's diverse musical roots are show-cased on each track, with all songs being written by Dykes except I'm Mad Again by John Lee Hooker. The Howlers include Wes Starr and Bruce Jones, who have been playing with Omar since Big Leg Beat (1980), as well as Mike Buck, Ronnie James, and smokin' guitar from Casper Rawls and Derek O'Brien.

Omar Dykes tears it up big-time on this marvelous live outing. Pulling tunes largely from his then-current Hard Times in the Land of Plenty album, Dykes and his band deliver the goods with loads of panache and attitude for a hometown crowd hanging on every note. Dykes' voice is poised somewhere between Howlin' Wolf and Bob Seger, while his guitar style is a Texas version of John Fogerty's work with Creedence, but the sound he produces out of all this is totally unique. The disc is loaded with solid Dykes originals like "Mississippi Hoo Doo Man," "Same Old Grind," "Hard Times in the Land of Plenty," and a wild encore performance of Jerry McCain's "Rock'n'Roll Ball." One great little package.