| Specialist in All Styles | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Orchestra Baobab |
| Cover: | Specialist in All Styles.jpg |
| Released: | 2002 |
| Studio: | Livingston Recording Studios |
| Label: | World Circuit[1] Nonesuch |
| Producer: | Nick Gold, Youssou N'Dour |
| Prev Title: | Pirates Choice |
| Prev Year: | 2001 |
| Next Title: | A Night at Club Baobab |
| Next Year: | 2006 |
Specialist in All Styles is an album by the Senegalese band Orchestra Baobab, released in 2002.[2] [3] After the success of the Pirates Choice reissue, the band decided to record a reunion album.[4] It was Orchestra Baobab's first album in 15 years.[5] The album title was taken from a sign hanging outside a barbershop.[6]
The band supported the album with a world tour.[7] The album was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Best Contemporary World Music Album".[8]
Recorded over 10 days in London, Specialist in All Styles was produced by Nick Gold and Youssou N'Dour; ironically, N'Dour's rise in popularity in the 1980s led in part to Orchestra Baobab's disbandment.[9] [10] [11] Among the returning members were singers Balla Sidibe and Rudy Gomis, guitarist Barthelemy Atisso, and saxophonist Issa Cissoko.[12] Attiso had barely played guitar in 15 years, and had to relearn after Gold and the band's singers sent one to him.[13] A new singer, Assane Mboup, contributed to the album. Like previous Baobab albums, Specialist was influenced by Cuban music; it also made use of mbalax and reggae sounds.[14] [15]
Ibrahim Ferrer and N'Dour sang on "Hommage à Tonton Ferrer".[16] [17] Many songs are remakes of the band's earlier hits, although "Bul Ma Miin" was written for the album.[6] [18] "Ndongoy Daara", about malfeasance in Qur'anic educational institutions, was written by the band's first singer, Laye Mboup.[19] The vocals are in Wolof, Mandinka, Spanish, and French.[20]
Robert Christgau called the album "the ideal introduction to Baobab's relaxed mastery of American instruments, Cuban rhythms, and Senegalese form-and-content." The Guardian deemed it "one of the great comeback albums," writing that "many of the songs offer a relaxed, rolling blend of Cuban salsa, African rhythms and boisterous pop melodies, dressed up with uplifting harmony singing and strong saxophone work."[21] The Toronto Star labeled it "a rich and groovy brew of African salsa, with lyrics that track mostly familiar social concerns."[17] Rolling Stone wrote that "this is groove music at once relaxed and unyielding, insistent enough for the dance floor, trance-y enough to lull an infant."
Financial Times stated that "Attiso is on fine, fluid form, throwing out rippling, jazzy solos against Issa Cissokho's saxophone."[22] Newsweek determined that "though the music retains its unique fusion of Latin and African sounds, the new album is blessed with the added benefit of state-of-the-art production quality and professional sound engineering."[23] The New York Times concluded that "the great surprise on Specialist is Mr. Attiso's haunted, expressive performance."[6] The San Diego Union-Tribune opined: "More nuanced and sophisticated than its predecessor, Specialist features nine intoxicating songs that showcase the group's ebullient call-and-response vocals, swaying rhythms and pinpoint instrumental work."[24] The Chicago Tribune listed Specialist in All Styles as the 16th best album of 2002; the Los Angeles Daily News considered it the 4th best.[25] [26]
AllMusic wrote that "Attisso is all over this record, offering beautiful, inventive solos and playing whose fluidity, especially on 'Gnawe' and 'Dee Moo Wor', is wonderfully atmospheric."