Vernon Reid has always been a restless innovator. As the driving force behind Living Colour, his guitar redefined what Black artistry could sound like in the late ’80s rock mainstream—equal parts metal, funk, jazz, and political urgency. With ‘Hoodoo Telemetry’, Reid returns to the solo spotlight, crafting an album that resists easy categorization.

“Door of No Return” makes the album’s stakes clear. With bassist Steve Jenkins and drummer Donald Sturge, Anthony McKenzie II, Reid summons a ritual of remembrance, referencing the brutal legacy of the slave trade. His guitar is both lament and incantation, jagged yet searching, immediately positioning the album as testimony as much as art.

“Freedom Jazz Dance” (with Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber) transforms Eddie Harris’s composition into a collective improvisation featuring horns, voices, and DJ Logic’s turntable textures. At the same time, Cream’s “Politician” is recast as a scathing commentary rather than a swaggering blues-rock track.

Hoodoo Telemetry is yet another significant milestone in the career of a great artist who has had a series of important milestones. 

It’s a challenging, urgent work that insists we pay attention.