Born in Kinshasa, Oswando's family moved to France, Basse-Normandie, when he was 9. There, ex-Black Panther activist Jean McNair, took the young Oswando under his wing and introduced him to America history and its great black artists such as Nat King Cole and James Brown. Those artists inspired him in his music writing, which saw his first hit 'Dark Child' released in 2007. Moving to Paris, Oswando recruited three musicians to found the Oswando Jazz Quartet. Towards Freedom deals with people and their mutual immigration trips: on one side, an afro-american jazzman called Isaac Brooks from New York who wants to break through with his music in Paris; on the other side, a Polish couple, scared by the growth of Nazism in Europe, fleeing to the United States. This album also pays tribute to two anti-segregation activists: Jean McNair who died in 2014 and the famous Rosa Parks...

Towards Freedom is an interesting album that, at its core, tackles the struggles of people who have suffered simply because of the colour of their skin, their nationality or their religious beliefs. But then, I couldn't quite understand why there were covers of 'Blue Moon' and 'New York, New York' included. It just seemed a little odd.

It would have been more enjoyable, however, if the English language tracks had been handled a little better. Sadly, Oswando murders 'New York, New York' mainly because his English pronunciation is way off the mark. He inadvertently changes the lyrics to "I Want to Wake up in the Titty That Doesn't Slip". Likewise 'Blue Moon' has the odd lyrics "... without a glove of my own".

Now, I understand that the language barrier is always a problem - I can't sing, let alone sing a French song convincingly. But 'New York, New York' and 'Blue Moon' are incredibly famous songs and so I'm surprised that Oswando doesn't know them inside out, or failing that, didn't get a vocal coach to give him a hand with the pronunciation.

The album contains 10 songs (42 min, 05 sec) and the French tracks are wonderful; to be fair the English tracks are good, but just slightly spoiled by the pronunciation.

Despite it appearing as though I didn't enjoy this album, I actually did. It's an interesting Jazz CD that has a serious message at its core.

6

Nick Smithson