Reed player Tommy Meier's 2007 disc Root Down couldn't have been more of a surprise, given Meier's nationality or, for that matter, the label it appeared on. The longstanding imprint Intakt (like Meier, from Switzerland) has certainly been behind enough records fusing jazz and improv with other influences, both personal and geographic — if, indeed, that's even a line that can be drawn. But the pure, infectious Afro-inspired groove of Meier's 15-piece band on his debut recording was a happy surprise.
Identifying a Euro-African connection in Meier's music is hardly a stretch. In addition to playing his own solidly grooving compositions on the first record, Root Down covered pieces by the Nigerian musical revolutionary Fela Kuti and by Chris McGregor and Dudu Pukwana, two South African players who became fixtures of the 1960s (and beyond) European free improv scene. On the follow-up, The Master and the Rain, things might be a little looser but the point of origin is still quite clear. The 13 tracks here again include pieces by Fela and McGregor, but Meier's fascination is now stretching the continent. His arrangements interpolate "El Medahey" by the Master Musicians of Jajouka (from Morocco) and folk melodies from Mali, the Maghreb and the Tuareg nomads. For safe measure, they also work in Andrew Hill's "Compulsion."
Although of the North, Meier has trod a long road to get to the point of Root Down. Playing in a circus band as a younger man he traveled through West Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe. He also got to see Fela play at his famed club the Shrine in Lagos. The culmination of this is, if the term be forgiven, a fusion band. While they are exuberantly beholden to the source material, they are still playing it jazz, and impressively so. The powerful ensemble includes pianist Irene Schweizer and saxophonist Co Streiff, as well as effective use of turntables and guests enough to bring some tracks close to two dozen players. Whatever it's called and however they got there, Meier's Root down play exciting energized music.
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