Africa’s fearless virtuoso

Richard Bona

“Munia/The Tale” (Verve)

*** 1/2

Cameroonian bassist Richard Bona presents yet another display of his utter musical fearlessness. He is a superb, virtuosic player, inspired by Jaco Pastorius, but his musical interests and his skills reach well beyond a single instrument.

As in previous albums, many of the selections here simmer with African roots, enhanced by a cross-boundary creativity that comfortably gathers in elements from jazz, R&B;, Latin rhythms and some indefinable area of his inner self.

His multi-tracked choral recording of his own voice in the opening incantation, “Bonatology,” is one example. On other pieces -- “Sona Mama” and “Dina Lam” -- he comes close to performing as a virtual one-man band (with the sole accompaniment of keyboardist Etienne Stadwijk) as well as singing lead and backup vocals and doing so in utterly convincing musical fashion.

Jazz moments slip through the fabric constantly: George Colligan’s piano on “Muto Bye Bye,” Kenny Garrett’s soprano saxophone on “Painting a Wish” (a tribute to Miles Davis), Romero Lubambo’s guitar on “Bona Petit.” Verve has made a serious mistake, however, in not including English translations of Bona’s lyrics. It’s all well and good to have provided detailed lyrics in his native Douala (and, in one piece, French) language, but songs with thoughtful insights about tribal wars, jealousy, love and abandonment, rejection and oblivion deserve a wider understanding.

Masterful tribute to Brazilian master

Mike Marshall and

Jovino Santos Neto

“Serenata: The Music of Hermeto Pascoal” (Adventure Music)

*** 1/2

Multi-GENRE guitarist-mandolinist Marshall and Brazilian pianist Neto make an unusually empathic duo. But the real star here is Pascoal, the wildly eccentric, wildly gifted Brazilian musical master (who, on his 60th birthday in 1996, decided to write a new composition every day for the next year to celebrate the milestone -- and did so).

Pascoal -- who plays every imaginable formal instrument as well as every sound-making device (garden hoses, teapots) he can find -- is generally thought of as a composer of thorny, challenging music.

But the pieces included here (selected by Neto, the sole curator for Pascoal’s work) are filled with lyrical delights. Examples: the lovely melody of “Roseando,” soaring from one point to another, never quite landing before moving on; the pensive “Floresta,” played as a solo piano piece; the insistent rhythms of “Quanto Mais Longe, Mais Perto.”

Perhaps best of all, there is the bolero-like modinha, “Saudades Do Brasil,” with Pascoal himself playing one of his utterly unique bass flute solos. The album is a sourcebook of material for jazz players, overflowing with the sort of beautifully phrased themes and richly harmonic springboards that are ideal for improvisation. And there’s more than one tune that offers fascinating material for enterprising lyricists.

Singers augment trumpeter’s music

Tom Harrell

“Wise Children” (Bluebird)

***

Harrell’s great diversity -- as a trumpet player, a composer and an arranger -- is on full display in this far-ranging collection of original works. Using his longtime quintet as a foundation, he ventures through a set of pieces reaching from straight-ahead bop and rhythmic funk to sweetly lyrical ballads.

Four numbers are Harrell instrumentals with added lyrics, sung by an all-star line up of vocalists: Dianne Reeves, Cassandra Wilson, Jane Monheit and Claudia Acuna. Among the instrumental tunes, the groove-driven “What Will They Think of Next” and “See You at Seven” are enhanced by quirky splashes of rhythm and sound. And on “Snow,” sung gorgeously by Monheit, Harrell delivers a stunning flugelhorn solo, its impact enhanced by the breathtaking pauses in his phrasing. The Harrell quintet -- without the singers -- opens a six-night run at the Jazz Bakery on Tuesday.

Global all-stars join forces

Miroslav Vitous

“Universal Syncopations” (ECM Records)

**

This is about as close as it gets to jamming on an ECM date. The lineup is a kind of United Nations all-star session, with Czech bassist Vitous joined by Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek, English guitarist John McLaughlin and American players Chick Corea on piano and Jack DeJohnette on drums.

There a few lively moments -- especially “Tramp Blues,” in which Garbarek reveals a more heated approach than usual. On this track, as elsewhere, a brass section adds some needed contrast. But the album is otherwise lacking in the sort of heat one might have hoped for from such a stellar aggregation of players.

Sax player shines on bassist’s album

Steve Swallow

“Damaged in Transit” (ECM Records)

** 1/2

Veteran bassist Swallow wrote all the selections here for a trio tour with tenor saxophonist Chris Potter and drummer Adam Nussbaum, recording the album as the European sojourn came to an end. By titling the pieces as “Item 1, D.I.T.” through “Item 9, D.I.T.” he seems to insist upon presenting them with no extra-musical associations.

But the fact is that virtually all the themes are simple melodies overlaying Swallow’s real focus on a group of somewhat challenging chord sequences. Applying names wouldn’t have made much difference one way or the other.

The performances, in any case, are all about Potter, who has a lot of open space in which to play and makes the most of every moment. His flaming set of blues choruses on “Item 5, D.I.T.” is typical of his work throughout -- a masterful example of contemporary jazz saxophone playing, reminiscent in its best passages of the early work of Sonny Rollins.

Traversing the slippery pop slope

Chris Botti

“A Thousand Kisses Deep” (Columbia)

**

The ever-present enigma in Botti’s recordings centers in the fact that he is a potentially fine jazz trumpeter who is constantly positioned in banal musical settings. That’s not likely to change so long as he continues his effort to walk the risky razor’s edge between jazz and pop. And with this morose-sounding album, he seems to be slipping rapidly down the pop side. A pair of tunes -- “Love Gets Old” and “My Funny Valentine” -- at least provide a display of his sumptuous sound and easy way with a melody. But the balance of the CD is as murky as a morning marine layer over Santa Monica.