One Truth cover
Released

A hidden gem in the discographies of both Brooks and the MRR, One Truth appears to be drawn from live recordings – there’s not much info on the album itself – and is a beautiful section of material that interfaces nyabinghi with Brooks’s saxophone. Whether he’s blasting out simple yet lush melodies in union, or improvising languid solos over the eternal rhythms of the nyabinghi drummers, Brooks is on fine form here, and there’s something particularly compelling about the way these two cultural forces take on songs like the Abyssinians’ “Sattamassagana” – they get to the core of the thing without flourishes, immediately divining what makes such a lasting tune so powerful.

Jon Dale