The week's music DVDs reviewed

Amos Lee

Live from Austin Tx/ New West ***

Sometimes it's the young guys you have to look out for. Former Rolling Stone"Artist to Watch" Amos Lee is on the right side of 30 and clearly doing certain things correctly – namely, applying his understated soul singing to a series of songs that bring to mind the likes of Bill Withers, Stevie Wonder and, particularly, Terry Callier. Unusually for gigs in this series, you won't need to lower the volume; Lee prefers to smoulder than to boom, and it is this intense if nimble quality (reflected in the accomplished camera work) that underscores supple material such as Keep It Loose Keep It Tight, Seen It All Before, Soul Suckers and Love in the Lies. No extras. www.amos lee.com

TONY CLAYTON-LEA

YOUSSOU N’DOUR

Return to Gorée/ Axiom****

Gorée is an island off the coast of Senegal from where African slaves were shipped across the Atlantic to the Americas. It’s the starting point for Youssou N’Dour’s journey on the trail of these displaced people and the influence they’ve had on various musical cultures. Shadowed by Pierre-Yves Borgeaud’s cameras, N’Dour explores that legacy in New Orleans, New York, Atlanta and Luxembourg, recruiting jazz, soul and gospel musicians and singers along the way for a concert on the island. There’s a great apparent ease in how N’Dour interacts with these different musicians. He may have previously had little truck with jazz, but the affinity between his inquisitive mind and jazzmen such as Idris Muhammad is clear for all to see. While some of the scenes are repetitive, the real joys come when the musicians fire up and play, reminding you of this music’s many ebbs and flows over the years. www. youssou.com

JIM CARROLL