The Souljazz Orchestra treat their dense stew of Latin rhythms, soulful brass and Ethiopian tonalities as if something light and easy like comfort food, not haute cuisine. The resulting music is less concerned with global hyphenations than it is a good groove, treating classic jazz much the same way Q-Tip did on Kamaal the Abstract: a means to an end, a set of tones to pull from liberally with the end being unabashed heat. Like a lot of the excellent music from the soul throwback label Daptone, Rising Sun sounds designed to be sampled, an idea way more snakily postmodern than the jams themselves are. Indeed, the pleasures delivered here are big, steady and obvious. The upright bass head-nodder that drives “Lotus Flower” is left blissfully untouched in opening bars, with additional instruments layered on top as cleanly as if looped. A pervading tone of spiritual enlightenment recalls Alice Coltrane, but the pleasures here are more in line with David Axelrod, driven and sinuous and boldly likable. Best of all, Rising Sun coheres mellifluously: one vibrant crescendo sighing into the next, an album of beats designed to be enjoyed as such.
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