Tommy Guerrero's instrumental work pulls from Ethio-jazz, Afrobeat, highlife and spiritual jazz without announcing any of it. The grooves stay unhurried, the arrangements sparse enough that you hear the room around the instruments. Guitar lines drift over bass that moves like it has all day, drums keeping time without pushing. It sounds like music made by someone who has spent decades skating, designing and recording, confident enough not to fill every gap.
Tracks like "El Camino Negro" and "Los Padres" let the mood settle before anything happens. There is no hurry to resolve, no verse-chorus shape to follow. The funk influence shows in the pocket, not in flashy playing. Guerrero recorded this in San Francisco, and the Bay Area's long tradition of laid-back instrumental music is all through it. If you like Khruangbin's slower material or early Madlib beat tapes, this sits in similar territory without copying either.
Available as a download in lossless and lossy formats, plus vinyl. The tracklist reads like a road trip you take to avoid the interstate.
