Bassist, guitarist, singer, and songwriter Richard Bona began life as a musically precocious child in a Cameroon village but wound up playing bass alongside the likes of Joe Zawinul, Pat Metheny, Bobby McFerrin, and Joni Mitchell. His second album reflects this remarkable life in 12 polished, sophisticated compositions that feature his own soothing, multi-tracked vocals, some nifty acoustic guitar picking, and melodious Jaco Pastorius–possessed bass lines, all rolled together in lush, subtle arrangements by Gil Evans protégé Gil Goldstein. The music is intensely controlled, and Bona’s starry-eyed spirituality can take him dangerously close to sentimental, easy-listening jazz, but his staggering musicianship and that of guests like Metheny, Michael Brecker, and drummer Vinny Colaiuta save the day. At moments, his African background emerges in the music: a brief 6/8 percussion jam slipped in at the close of "Te Misea," or his energetic polyrhythmic guitar work on "Laka Mba." Elsewhere, his pop-jazz swoon is so powerful that only the unfamiliar language gives him away. Africa is far more present in his lyrics, which may deal with arranged marriages or the wisdom of a village chief. Bona is an original, one of the few African musicians to earn a place in the jazz mainstream.