Narada Michael Walden: Awakening (Atlantic)

SERENE MR WALDEN, Sri Chinmoy disciple and erstwhile drummer with the all-clad-in-white Mahavishnu Orchestra, surely knows which side his cosmic bread is buttered. Seems like the Narada road to nirvana is paved with funk; and the fact that Awakening is oriented more towards solid earth than distant heaven, musically speaking, makes it one mother of an album.