Nothing is more indicative of our living in a global village than listening to the latest CD release by Pamela that was produced by Wendell Harrison for Tribe Records at home here in Harlem, while reading a recent homeage to the late artist Gilda Snowden by Chido Johnson, himself a noted Detroit based artist. What Chido said of Gilda in his reflection on her in the Studio Museum’s monthly brochure is applicable for the music from Tribe. Gilda, he wrote,... “looked beyond the gray, foggy environment and saw strong colors.” Pamela and her ensemble of musicians and poets, have looked even further beyond the parochial of limits of Detroit to distant vistas of hope and enchantment. From the effusions of “Ancestors” the drum choir, a collective force evolves in perfect time and in keeping with the CD’s title Kindred Spirits. When Pamela told me of the title I immediately thought of Octavia Butler’s time-travel novel Kindred, and in scope and density the two works of art possess a common vibrancy and sense of community. There is a festive narrative in Kindred Spirits that extends across the vast African Diaspora, and while it’s good--in the context of Sankofa to face forward and look back--I found the unchanging same of the present, the relentless surge of Wendell’s tenor saxophone on Wise’s “Hometown”, completely engrossing, reminding me of Detroit’s matchless musical legacy. Memories of that tradition were given additional poignancy when Wise caressed the keyboard and it’s not hard to recall the prominence of such past masters of the instrument as Harold McKinney, Teddy Harris, Kenny Cox,and the ceaseless creativity of Barry Harris. From both a compositional and performance standpoint, Wise is passionately in touch with the city’s undying pulse, its political tumult, and the singular lace of Detroit’s musicians in the jazz tradition. Three of the tunes---”Can’t Use A Sellout”, “What We Need”, and “Farewell To The Welfare”---transport me back to those days in the seventies when I first heard them by Tribe.What I said of them in terms of capturing the essence of urban complexity and musical innovation remains undiminished in this latest iteration. Selecting Wayne Shorter’s “Speak No Evil”, with lyrics by Vanessa Rubin provides Pamela and Wendell’s long time friend Ashaki Zeigler with a unique vehicle to showcase her vocal command and to underscore the group’s expressive cohesion, a beautiful bonding of vision and intention. Vocalist Ping Spells delivers Harrison’s “Can’t Use A Sellout” in a creative and powerful way. That bonding coheres further in the recitations of Mbiyu Chui, who indeed is a “word master” as he summons a retinue of icons from the expansive literary and Pan-Africanist canon that is much needed today. It goes without saying how much I am impressed by this music, which I am sure will get further accolades from a few of the city’s jazz and music connoisseurs, but of deeper significance is the ongoing entrepreneurial zeal of Wendell and Pamela. As Chido said of Gilda who nourished and illuminated our days, Wendell, Pamela and their coterie of inspired musicians and poets are exemplary of the Kindred Spirits the city, the nation, the world so desperately need. Herb Boyd Black Detroit--A People’s History (forth coming from Amistad Press)