It saw Jackson returning to an experimental dance-pop sound in contrast to the subdued rhythmic feel of prior album 20 Y.O.
But New Orleans seeped into this album anyway, with rhythmic crispness and a moody undercurrent; the production has swampy, haunted depths.
That said, his swinging versions of "It's All Right With Me," "For Once in My Life" and "The Lady Is a Tramp" (the last two are not on the new album) carried serious rhythmic bite.
Scott-Heron was a high-achieving polymath, so there is plenty to laud: he was a novelist by 20, while his 1970 album of politicised, rhythmic spoken word, Small Talk at 125th and Lenox, preceded rap by a decade.
But the album also introduces subtle rhythmic changes, and guests, including the singers Djavan and Milton Nascimento and Gilberto Gil, make contributions.
"Woohoo" was serviced to rhythmic contemporary crossover airplay as the album's second radio single on May 25 , 2010
The Washington Post called Your Body Above Me "moodily sumptuous", Guitar Player described the music as having "drama and rhythmic urgency", and Allmusic noted the album's "brooding yet propulsive sound that's actually quite intriguing".
The song About Today, which, live, exists as a sort of epic crescendo, is on the album a quiet, focused, minimal rhythmic drone supported by looped violas.
On Tuesday he leads a streamlined quartet with Ben Wendel on saxophone, Gilad Hekselman on guitar and Ben Williams on bass; on Wednesday he presents Cuban Safari, the robustly rhythmic band that appears on his new album, "Tree of Life" (Half Note).
More material continues to trickle from his archives in the form of lost album Corn: as well as rhythmic versions of This Is How We Walk on the Moon and Lucky Cloud (*fans self*), there is new material such as Ocean Movie.
