Dapp Theory

Y'All Just Don't Know is an ambitious album that brings together what at first may seem like disparate elements: a jazz band, an MC and a protest signer. Pianist/composer Andy Milne's vision for Dapp Theory is to link jazz with other styles — namely the social conscience and poetic lyricism found in both hip-hop and folk music. To do this he has enlisted Bruce Cockburn and Kokayi on several tracks, adding new dimensions to all three artists' music. The common ground becomes obvious in tracks like "Trickle Down" co-written by Cockburn and Milne (and found in another version on Cockburn's excellent You've Never Seen Everything), with added rhymes by Kokayi. These collaborations forge new paths with a jazz accompaniment under the vocalists’ chainsaw sharp critique of globalisation and corporate excess. It's like Chuck D and Woody Guthrie jamming with Medeski, Martin and Wood. Elsewhere Milne's own compositions groove with clavinet rhythms and Grégoire Maret's harmonica melodies but never quite reach the climaxes of the collaborative material.