Magic Carpet - Broken Compass '2023

Tracks list

The sun shines somewhere all the time. Humanity bathes in nourishing light,
children play, people dance, work, grow, bathe, learn. As long as the rays of
the sun, longer even, the sounds of music emanate from our bodies. Tools amplify
our breath, resonate from hits, twang and toll. People come together, travel
long distance, just to make music together. Magic Carpet came together for this
purpose years ago, some twenty summers and falls. At the core, six guys from
diverse musical and cultural backgrounds, who set out to perform various
traditions, bring old sounds into now, music enabling rapid travel. Maybe as an
educational project? Perhaps, but also a weekly gig at an Ethiopian restaurant
in Chicago. Over time they came to know each other musically, lock in, and their
sounds flowed joyously through house parties, block parties, street festivals.
One long weekend about seven years ago, Magic Carpet all had some time together
in Chicago's Bel Air Sound Studio, and recorded the grooviest, loveliest,
soulfullest, chillest set of tunes in the world. The rhythm section of Parrish
Hicks (bass), Makaya McCraven (kit), and Ryan Mayer (percussion) unfolds
hypnotic tales while Fred Jackson's soprano sax dances, Temuel Bey's guitar
trances and Teddy Aklilu's keys fill the zone. The tunes wear different masks,
from straight-up funk ("Aum U Wah") through smooth jazz-inflected bliss
("Flow"), to the West African grunge of "Touareg Fever" and "Rumba Gnawa".
Broken Compass is Magic Carpet's first widely-distributed recording, and it
documents the band at the peak of their first stage, before Parrish Hicks's
transition in 2017. Since then, the group has continued to evolve, more recently
adding vocalist and dancer Tracy King to their lineup. Those in Chicago who
know, know, and now you know too. Magic Carpet's light shines. Broken Compass
will be available from FPE Records in vinyl or digital format August 11, 2023. 

Magic Carpet on this recording:

Parrish Hicks bass
Timuel Bey guitar
Ryan Mayer percussion
Makaya McCraven drums
Tewodros Aklilu keyboard
Fred Jackson Jr saxophones, small percussion
Kaliq Woods clarinet

Tracklist:
1.01 - Magic Carpet - Aum U Wah (6:37) 
1.02 - Magic Carpet - Andalucia (7:45) 
1.03 - Magic Carpet - Touarag Fever (6:43) 
1.04 - Magic Carpet - Song 4 da Universe (5:59) 
1.05 - Magic Carpet - Warrior Dance (5:17) 
1.06 - Magic Carpet - Rumba Gnawa (5:47) 
1.07 - Magic Carpet - Flow (4:53) 
1.08 - Magic Carpet - Sahara (7:39)

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