Album: DO Misiani and Shirati Jazz, The King of History (Sterns)

What an intoxicating amalgam of sounds make up these classic Kenyan Benga songs of the 1970s.

A kick drum provides the workman-like four-to-the-floor backbone; high-on-the-fretboard guitar melodies curl themselves in knots as they generously spin out; vocalists sing lyrics of both the heart and mind, and the bass bubbles away volcanically, slipping and sliding around the beat. As ever, Sterns have done an excellent job in both the quality of the recordings and the extensive sleeve notes.