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Bakithi's Blues

South African bassist Bakithi Kumalo, best known in the U.S. for his work on Paul Simon's Graceland [Warner Bros.], appears on Belle Eau Road Blues [Basement Recordings, (718) 485-7120] by Trinidadian pan artist Garvin Blake. The ambitious album blends jazz standards with Caribbean calypso and African township music. "It's been my dream to play American jazz," Bakithi reveals, "and to fuse it with my South African playing. Also, the Caribbean pan style is very close to my playing, so I didn't have any problem with it at all. It felt like home." Belle Eau Road Blues also features Brooklyn jazz bassist Gene Torres and pianist Tony Cedras, another veteran of the Graceland sessions.