Madlib has done so much hip hop production, it’s easy to forget that he’s just as serious a jazz musician.

This is his second jazz album of the year, along with the Young Jazz Rebels album. Here, we take a journey to the fusion jazz of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, paying tribute to artists like Derf Reklaw, Roy Ayers, John Coltrane, and Pharoah Sanders.

Madlib apparently spent the last two years tweaking this album until he was happy with it, and while I don’t know what the rough draft was like, I can say I enjoy the finished product. It’s not an immediately accessible album like Stevie or The Funky Side of Life, but it rewards the patient listener much in the same way the Tribute To Brother Weldon does.

As you might expect from a project with percussion in the title, the drumming is superb, yet never overpowers a song. Amongst the instruments employed on this album are piano, guitar, harp, Moog, flute, congas, electric piano, sitar, vibraphone, and accordion. It provides a rich and varied texture to an album that is all about grooves and layers. This isn’t going to be the YNQ album that garners a bunch of new fans, but I do believe that it will reward those that take the time to explore this album.