After six years off the full-time music scene, trumpeter
Tom Browne returned with this effort. Although he has occasionally shown that he can play very credible jazz, on this set he sticks to funk, hip-hop, and rap. As was true with
Donald Byrd's dates by the mid-'70s,
Browne sounds like a sideman on his own record, with his trumpet being used as a contrasting flavor while often buried by electronic rhythms, R&B vocals, and rather poor rapping. "Work Song" and "Milestones" might be on the set list, but these inferior renditions owe little debt to the earlier classic versions. Get one of
Tom Browne's better jazz CDs instead. ~ Scott Yanow