Fifteen years ago, Hermon Mehari’s jazz trio Diverse led a Michael Jackson tribute show at a rock venue in Kansas City. While it doesn’t resemble Thriller stylistically, (un)Seen, Mehari’s new album with the quartet NO(w) Beauty, is imbued with the dynamic sensibility associated with Jackson and producer Quincy Jones.
As on an ambitious pop album, no two tracks on (un)Seen are alike. The innovative merger of conventional swing, Eastern Mediterranean folk traditions, European classical music and Euro-jazz offers a series of surprises.
Guest artist Sam Amidon contributes plaintive vocals to “The Birds’ Enlightened Path.” The rhapsodic"Inner Spaces” is enhanced by strings while “Zones de l’oubli” consists entirely of a string quartet. “Zone 11: Territoire(s)” employs the maximalist tactics associated with Tigran Hamasyan.
The fragile melancholy of the standout track “Atlantic Currents” will buckle the knees of Mehari aficionados. The song also features a sprightly solo from pianist Enzo Carniel, Damien Varaillon’s burly bass and the skittering drums of Stéphane Adsuar.
It’s easy to hear why the quartet was named “the French band of the year” by two publications following the release of 2023’s NO(w) Beauty. In 2009, Mehari was The Plastic Sax Person of the Year. Seventeen years later, Mehari is succeeding in an ongoing quest to “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’”.