dissent

Founded in San Francisco in 1997, dissent is the creation of Gregory Howe--a Bay Area-based producer, composer and guitarist who is also the founder/president of the independent Wide Hive Records. Howe's dissent, whose name is spelled with a lower-case d, should not be confused with the Dissent that recorded an album titled Epitome of Democracy for the Amity label in 1994. Nor should Howe's act be pigeonholed; dissent's recordings have underscored the Northern Californian's interest in ‘70s jazz-funk as well as electronica (including downtempo, acid jazz and trip-hop). The original import version of dissent's self-titled debut album (which was originally distributed by Time Warp) came out in 1998, although in 2001, the disc was remastered, re-sequenced and distributed by Red Eye. And those who heard dissent's first album (which Howe produced) agreed that dissent was not easy to categorize. Parts of the album (which ranges from instrumentals to vocal offerings that feature singer Alisa Owens) are relevant to electronica, although much of dissent is mindful of ‘70s jazz-funk--not necessarily the sort of down-home, grits-and-gravy soul-jazz that Funk, Inc., Brother Jack McDuff, Lou Donaldson and Grover Washington, Jr. were known for, but rather, the more mysterious and abstract ‘70s efforts of Miles Davis or Herbie Hancock (whose Sextant band wasn't as commercial as his Headhunters). The first dissent album contained some samples and electronic programming, but quite often, it had a real band sound and employed real musicians--including trombonist Michael Rinta, flutist Tim Hyland, guitarist Calvin Keys, drummer Ron E. Beck (who has played with Bay Area funk/soul legends Tower of Power) and percussionist Jessy Seamore. But if dissent's first release was a band-oriented...