V.A. Praise Poems Volume 2

This compilation highlights a unique historical context in the development and splintering of the streams of funk, soul and jazz. There are plenty of true funk elements. There is a spectrum of electronic synth experiments. There is rich post-post-bop instrumentalism, and at least one instance of wah wah flute! And of course, and perhaps most importantly, there is a pervasive message of the attainment of freedom, whether it be through non-attachment, space travel, social action, spirituality, or musical genre blending. The Praise Poems series is an attempt at a faithful snapshot of this revolutionary music before it began it's inevitable backslide into the bourgeois excesses of the jazz-fusion genre. Call it proto-fusion? Exemplified in performances like the cosmic bossa-odyssey of Third Stream, the jazz-pre-fusion of Seeds of Fulfillment, modal-tribal and chant explorations by Bobby Boyd Congress, the cinematic audiophilia of Belgium's Soul Scratchers, the electro-acoustic blend of folk, percussion, and jazz by John Finnigan and Maureen Finlon, or an undeniable funky theatricality by Larry Dismond that would make Galt Macdermot proud.