the MAGIC of B3NNi3 M4UPiN

recently reissued with VASTLY INFERIOR ARTWORK

http://www.africanafrican.com/negroartist/RECORD%20ALBUMS2/slides/Bennie%20Maupin%20%20The%20Jewel%20In%20the%20Lotus.jpg

sounds like SEXTANT played on acoustic instruments

Whoa, I gotta check that out, I love Bennie Maupin and Sextant! Can you tell us some more about it, Vahid?

For Mwandishi band fan, this LP from 1998 is a decent enough buy:

http://www.thelastmiles.com/gfx/interviews/bennie-maupin/driving%20while%20black.jpg

It basically Maupin soloing over electronic backgrounds by Patrick Gleeson. It's not mindblowing or anything, the biggest problem is that Gleeson tries to create very contemporary-sounding electronic beats - there's even a drum'n'bass tune there - but he undertandably doesn't manage to make them as original and ground-breaking as electronic producers 30 years younger than him. Maupin is in good form though, and there's a certain charm to it all. Plus Gleeson gives a nod to Sextant fans by starting one of the tunes with the same modulated synth sounds as in "Rain Dance".

Love "Jewel In the Lotus" and especially "Slow Traffic to the Right." Not quite as crazy about "Moonscapes" but it's still great. Really like "Penumbra" from 2006 as well. I haven't heard his newest (forthcoming?) one or "Driving While Black" but he's pretty much excellent across the board.

I am SO grooving on that jewel in the lotus reissue. and the ILM herbie hancock poll a couple months back has me reinvestigating his 70s work, have to thank tuomas for that one. right now I'm eyeing a couple post-herbie headhunters albums on rhapsody, any good? hh's was bennie maupin's band then, more or less?

I'm not familiar with those post-Herbie Headhunters albums, but if you like the Mwandishi-era albums, this is an essential buy:

http://www.dustygroove.com/images/products/h/hender_eddi_anthology_101b.jpg

It compiles two Eddie Henderson albums released after the Mwandishi band officially disbanded, which feature all the other Mwandishi members (including Herbie) except Julian Priester. The arrangements are a bit less adventurous than on the Herbie albums, and the lack of Priester's trombone makes the sonic palette somewhat narrower, but this is still very good piece of space jazz, essential stuff for all Mwandishi fans.

If you like to hear Maupin in a more traditional bebop/post-bop environment, this is a nice album too:

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41SBGE31WNL._AA240_.jpg

Especially cool are the couple of tunes where Maupin duets with Jack DeJohnette's melodica(!).