P age B4
A ugust 23 1995 • T he P ortland O bserver
^ o rtla ix b (JPbseruer
ENT ERTA IN MENT
Max-A-Million
To call Duran Estevez positive
would be something o f an under­
statement. The dynamic rapper and
singer for the Chicago group Max-
A -M illio n veritably begins and ends
each sentence with ‘ Irie ’, the Jamai­
can term for “ A lrigh t.’’
Moreover, the sentiments Duran
expresses are so endearingly a ffir­
mative they make the listener feel
like join in g the singer in his mission
to inspire the masses through music.
That same irrepressible spirit
vibrates through the songs on Take
Your Time.
The Zoo Entertainment/S.O.S.
Records debut album from M ax-A-
M illion.
The disc showcases the Chicago
vocal trio on 12jams that ambitious­
ly com bine elem ents o f R & B ,
Reggae, dancehall, Hip/Hopand Pop.
Indeed, the album’ s first single “ Fat
New York Undercover (L-R): Michael DeLorenzo (Eddie Torres), Patti D ’A rbanville-Quinn
(Lt. Virginia Cooper) and Malik Yoba (J.C. Williams) struggle to rid the New York City Streets of
criminals in the new one-hour drama New York Undercover premiering Thursday Sept 8 (9 00-10 00
'PM ET/PT) on Fox.
Boy” has already become a dance/
club hit on the strength o f its clatter­
ing techno rhythms. Reggae Rap­
ping and Sexy Vocals.
The group consists o f three sing­
ers so talented each could easi ly front
their own group. But when Duran,
A ’ Lisa B and Tommye joined forces
to form M ax-A -M illio n , they created
a triple-th re a t
funk posse with
astounding vo­
cal
finesse.
Take
Your
Time isa vision­
ary c o m b in a ­
tion o fR & B vo­
calizing, quick­
silver Caribbe­
an rapping and
techno fu tu r ­
ism.
The album
is produced by 20 Fingers, the phe­
nomenal Chicago music team behind
recent dance hits by G illette (“ Short
Short Man” ) and Roula (“ Lick It” ).
Take Your Time finds the re­
nowned production crew applying
their musical and engineering exper­
tise to a collection o f original songs
and forceful interpretations.
C o m m e r c ia l "s
The B e st O f F ran k X u ppa
When Rykodisc am bitiously
rereleased en masse the definitive
Frank Zappa-approved masters o f al I
his albums in the Spring o f 1995, the
uninitiated were afforded the oppor­
tunity to explore the vast and diverse
world o f FZ - composer, bandleader
and virtuoso guitarist as well as hu­
morist, satirist and outspoken social
critic -- who.ie massive body o f work
was widely overlooked and misun­
derstood in his lifetime. However,
neophytes trying to find a threshold
into the Zappa zone are faced with a
monumental i f not overwhelming
task; where to start? There’ s no bet­
ter way to get a sampling o f the
prolific maestro’s catalog than by
delving into S trictly Commercial
(RC D /R AC /R ALP 40500), a “ best
o f ’ collection o f FZ’s radio hits and
tunes that would have been Top Ten
i f this were a perfect world. Packed
with 19 highlights o f his “ main­
stream” pop-rock career, this collec­
tion is a bona fide Zappa 101, a
primer on his creative genius which
was simultaneously at work and at
play in even his most accessible num­
bers. I t ’s also the first o fficial Zappa
retrospective since Verve released
Mothermania in 1969.
One o f rock’s most p ro lific and
iconoclastic artists, Frank Zappa
adventurously covered a universe o f
stylistic terrain, ranging from ‘ 50s
music inspired by Varese, Stravinsky
and Bartók. He punched out hardy
rock on his surly guitar and served up
“jazz from hell” experiments on his
computerized Synclavier DMS key­
board (his instrument ofchoice in the
latter years o f his life when he was
studio-bound). With a lifelong fla ir
for creating genre-jumping, post­
modernist music, Zappa released
nearly 60 albums, many o f which
folded in several different styles o f'
m usic,
cross-referencing
such seemingly disparate domains as
classical with reggae and melodic R&B
with dissonant avant-garde.
M ERCIAI
APPA
doo-wop to 20th century classical
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