Afro Strut

When veteran session man and producer Joseph ‘Amp’ Fiddler finally released his first solo effort—2003’s Waltz Of A Ghetto Fly—he was duly lavished with abundant industry praise by those happy to award this journeyman funkster his time in the spotlight after years as a sideman ivory tinkler for Prince and George Clinton. While that alluring, eclectic record mostly resulted from Fiddler stitching together a suite of Sly/P-Funk-influenced songs culled over years of jam sessions in his home studio, Afro Strut sees this Detroit native work from a clean slate, building up a fresh batch of multi-layered, 21st century wah-wah workouts and nu-soul smoochers from skeletal piano demos.
However, this is an often frustrating record that mostly tends to marry luminous, programmed neo-funk with less than memorable songs and lyrical ideas. The standout—and where Fiddler actually manages to be both lyrically and musically engaging—is the 20s jazz-indebted shuffler ‘If I Don’t’, which features some decent lines about an elusive lady couched in the double negative. Yet, the first single ‘Right Where You Are’ is a dull, jazz-funk-by-numbers affair; ‘Find My Way’, a decidedly mediocre ne’er-do-well’s lament saved only by the sumptuous electronic production; and the devotional ‘Empower’ is just plain boring.
There’s no doubting the talent Amp Fiddler has at his disposal as a vocalist, musician, arranger, and producer, but by swapping the spacey, bug-eyed observationalist of Waltz for the more po-faced, straight ahead concerns of love and everyday life as evident on this patchy sophomore effort, he’s regrettably jettisoned a significant portion of the hazy charm that helped bring him into the spotlight three years ago.