Bamako by BusAnzic Records ****

To a solid grounding in jazz, funk, rock and hip-hop, drumming polyglot Daniel Freedman has added influences from around the world, notably west Africa and Cuba, and his second album as leader reads like a rhythmic manifesto. The reference to the Malian capital is a little misleading. There's plenty of Bamako here, but this is very much a New York kind of record, and Freedman's crew are among the aristocrats of the city's international music community. Beninese guitar virtuoso Lionel Loueke adds some authentic west African flavours on Elegba Wa, while percussionists Abraham Rodriguez and Pedrito Martinez just as vividly evoke the back streets of Havana with the joyous Rumba Pa'NYC. Saxophonist Mark Turner turns in a thoughtful performance on the jazz ballad Alona, and keyboard maestro Jason Lindner's Deep Brooklyn is pure east coast funk. For all its diversity, this grooving album has a unity of purpose, drawn together by the leader's finely wrought compositionsand tasteful drumming.  danielfreedman.net