Touch the Earth

Singer/songwriter/violinist Derrik Jordan has a message to convey on his album Touch the Earth, and he is not shy about delivering it. Jordan, an avid environmentalist and anti-nuke activist, devotes most of the lyrics on the disc to what amount to agitprop slogans outlining his political beliefs. He does take a break now and then to turn to romance (notably on "Love to Spare," which sounds like an Earth, Wind & Fire song), but generally one is never too far away from an exhortation about how human beings are "ungrateful children" who have abused the planet. Jordan supports his lyrics with contemporary jazz music that makes frequent use of Latin and even more exotic percussion and occasional reggae rhythms. With the exception of some bass guitar and drums, and the horns heard on three tracks, he plays all the instruments. The result is a well-performed, but rather preachy album that may move listeners' feet, but may also make them feel like they're being lectured to. ("Ten percent of profits for the planet," reads a legend on the back cover, which Jordan's press biography qualifies as meaning "ecology-preservation organizations such as Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and the Citizen's Awareness Network.")