Vernon Reid & Masque
Known Unknown
(Favored Nations)

Reid, who packed funk and rock guitar for Living Colour, here serves as ringmaster for bassist Hank Schroy, keyboardist Leon Gruenbaum and drummer Marlon Browden (formerly with John Scofield). In the center of this colorful, flying electric circus, Reid's guitar howls and growls like a magnificent, fearsome beast.

Reid especially roars through the blues-based Time, at slow blues tempo, and faster through his quick whipping of The Slouch, while Down and Out in Kigali and Freetown crackles and pulsates with a dangerous-sounding jungle beat.

Points of jazz interest include the nimble ensemble dash through Outskirts and two of what Reid calls "fractured standards", frenetic covers of Lee Morgan's The Sidewinder and Thelonious Monk's Brilliant Corners. Reid's solo in Corners wildly scratches like a death row inmate clawing desperately at the dirt to escape from lockdown; Gruenbaum's piano solo scrambles but keeps pace with its frantic tempo. Twice as fast, this updated and electric Sidewinder sounds more like a roadrunner but still packs plenty of bite.

Sort of hoped that DJ Logic might have rocked a little more loopy and funky as he twists and turntables a guest spot in Voodoo Pimp Stroll. (Reid and Logic teamed to release Front End Lifter as the Yohimbe Brothers in 1992.)

Reprinted with permission. Copyright 2004 AllAboutJazz.com and Chris M. Slawecki .  ¶ 10:41 PM