Rating: NNN
From the title of this new Ubiquity collection, you might get the impression that BBC Radio One DJ Gilles Peterson is offering a rare glimpse into his mythic Brownswood archive – the secret place where he stores all the vinyl booty he gathers. But a quick glance at the reasonably common spiritual jazz and folk funk tracks selected by Ellen McIlwane, Jon Lucien, JR Bailey, Bobby Cole, Ira Sullivan, Harold McKinney, etc suggests that something’s amiss. If this is his best stuff, Brownswood is nothing to brag about. The story is that Ubiquity bought a big U.S. vinyl collection in Baltimore last year and gave Peterson first dibs, allowing him to keep whatever he pulled in exchange for his assistance in assembling the Brownswood USA comp with the pieces he scored. So Peterson adds to his stockpile, Ubiquity gets a low-overhead disc with a celebrity DJ name to sell it, and the consumer winds up with a better than average spin of soulful swingers to enhance the ambience of his or her next dinner party. Good deal for just about everyone but the musicians involved.
