AMG Review of Black Mahogani

Andy Kellman
All Music Guide

Black Mahogani is Kenny Dixon, Jr.'s fifth compilation (not compilation), another disc constructed with previously vinyl-bound tracks and a little bit of newness. This is nearly as reliant upon old material as Silent Introduction, making it potentially frustrating for folks who have remained on top of every move made by the enigmatic producer. True to the tradition of the past full-lengths, Black Mahogani nonetheless casts the oldness in a new light; the adept soundtrack/score-like manner in which all of the tracks are weaved into a continuous mix -- with perfect pacing -- make the original 12" releases seem like puzzle pieces in retrospect, every single one of them crucial to this fresh whole. The end result is even more cinematic in attack than Forevernevermore, and that's not only due to the sampling of extended dialogue bits from #Superfly and #Detroit 9000 -- as a house producer, Dixon's ability to create, sustain, and release tension must be unrivaled at this point in his career. It helps that he has some excellent raw material to work with, a fair portion of which benefits from a little assistance. Roberta Sweed's steamy, mature voice is spotlighted during the first third of the album: beginning with the alternately rolling and clicking soul-jazz of "Holiday" and "Roberta Jean Machine" (the latter using the same stick-drum-accented foundation lent to Amp Fiddler for his "Love and War"), Sweed's voice winds seductively on through "I Need You So Much," a hushed, stately lead-in for "Runaway," one of the album's central tracks. Pulled from the context of its surroundings, "Runaway" can be mind-numbing for its hyper-repetitive simplicity. In this place, symbiotically related to what leads up to it, each button-pushing pulse is met with anticipation, and Sweed's steady phrasings have a similar effect. "I'm Doing Fine," featuring a sensational vocal turn from Fiddler, is another jewel re-presented, as is "Black Mahogany," which is mixed a little differently and split between two tracks here (titled, confusingly enough, as "Mahogani 9000" and "Black Mahogani"). However, most dynamite of all is "Shades of Jae," a stupefying exercise in beat-teasing that indicates how Dixon often favors foreplay over climaxing. From entrance to exit, the typical characteristics of his productions remain. There's plenty of crowd chatter to accentuate the live feel; samples spring up everywhere (all the usual suspects, including Marvin Gaye, Syl Johnson, and the Time); and rhythmic templates constantly shift through jazz, funk, and house, as if the differences between the past, present, and future are actually nonexistent.