Jamal Hurse - "Follow Your Bliss"
A Review of this Exciting New CD By Brent-Anthony Johnson




   "Kinetic solo bass"…?  Definitely from "somewhere else" bass!  Now that we understand no music can

be described verbally… Jamal's music feels like "Brand X meets Heavy Metal meets Omar Faruk Tekbilek".

This is improvisational music on the edge, to be certain - but without the constant missing of other 

instrumentation! The implied percussion and vocalization are very present in each of the disc's 8 solo

pieces.  Lovers of Percy Jones, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, and/or the earlier works of Dann Glenn will really 

dig Jamal's approach to the electric bass guitar - as well as his singular journey to a musical world 

shown to far too few.

	       

  Jamal Hurse was born in 1965 with bilateral congenital hearing loss, which caused him to hear casual

conversation and intermittent sounds as rhythmic cadences.  His 41 years on planet earth has forged his 

art - resulting in one of the purest and utterly heartfelt expressions I've ever heard!   Imagine a 

conversation with a dearest loved one… across a thousand mile chasm.  Or, imagine a rain dance… in deep 

space.  The tune "Deceptive River" is my personal favorite!  Jamal's sound is at once most engaging, 

while at the same time it is one of the loneliest sounds on earth!  This cat is telling a beautiful story! 

For a profound lesson on the subject of musical insights "Follow Your Bliss" is a must own disc!



     Check out Jamal Hurse at WWW.JamalBass.Net, and hear him at WWW.MySpace.com! 

	 

     -Brent-Anthony Johnson is a bassist, composer, clinician, producer, ethnomusicologist, journalist 

          (Bass Inside, Global Bass, BASSICS, Bass Frontiers, and Bassist) and artist on the 'ASR Records label.



     *Further note--Jamal's CD is currently available at CDBaby.com.