Ignore the naff word play on the Beatles’ ‘Norwegian Wood’, this is actually a pretty cool album. Jones injects Afro Funk and 60’s Jazz into the dull world of contemporary R&B and comes up trumps.

Respect to Jones for daring to be different in the copycats infested R&B scene. When African bands picked up the fashionable Funk sounds from the US in the early 1970s, they put their own spin on it. Just like Jamaican artists covering Curtis Mayfield’s Chicago Soul set the Reggae train going (well, Rocksteady, if you’re pedantic), the largely West African Funk merchants kick started Afro Funk. Now Nigerian-born, New York-based Jones claims the sound back.

Like Afro Funk’s best known exponent, the late fellow Nigerian Fela Kuti, Jones makes music for night clubs. Suave, mellow with the odd frenetic break to get booties on the dance floor. The smooth execution makes ‘Nigerian Wood’ pleasant home listening material, too.

Watch Keziah Jones Play Live

For the most overt Afro Funk workouts, check out the title track or the more uptempo numbers ‘Lagos vs. New York’ and ‘Pimpin’.

On other tracks, Jones adds more of a jazzy New York vibe a la Roy Ayers. Listen to ‘African Android’ or the two seriously good ballads ‘My Kinda Girl’ and ‘Beautifulblackbutterfly’.

When Jones reverts to standard R&B ballads during the rest of the album, the results are too syrupy for my taste. I mean, he’s got a cool, understated style of delivery, but stuff like ‘In Love Forever’ just lacks moxie. Jones doesn’t do the obligatory R&B bombast, however. So even the bling ballads sound sharp and crisp. Check ‘Blue Is The Mind’, for instance. Still a bit syrupy, though.

Lyrically and musically, ‘Nigerian Wood’ is a proud but critical review of Jones own roots. Born in Nigeria, educated in England and living in New York, Jones has delivered an album that aims to unite his family background with the heritage of American Black Music he reveres.

With that much at stake, he just had to have a stab at a certain Michael Jackson - former fellow black artist gone, as Jones puts it, high yellow. Check out the fiercely proud and very sarcastic ‘Brown Like James’.

An unusual but highly addictive album.

We say:

Listen here to samples of Keziah Jones’ album ‘Nigerian Wood’ on iTunes UK. Readers from the UK and Ireland can also download the album using the iTunes link above. Please note, that a CD version of ‘Norwegian Wood’ is not currently available on Amazon.co.uk.