Jazz Recommends Jazz March 2020

Review: Here's something to set the pulse racing of any serious jazz enthusiast: a recently rediscovered recording of a live performance made by the Pharoah Sanders Quartet at the Grand Auditorium at Studio 104, Paris, in 1975. The tenor saxophonist is undoubtedly the star of the show throughout, though the fluidity of the double bass playing, the loose-limbed drumming and the rush-inducing breeziness of the piano parts - especially on "Love Is Here" parts one and two, which reminded us of another Sanders classic "You've Got To Have Freedom" - are all equally as ear-catching. Musically, it's as inspired as you'd expect, nestling somewhere between the great maestro's greatest "astral jazz" recordings and more traditional forms of jazz.

Review: In 2016 saxophonist and clarinetist Shabaka Hutchings established the "Ancestors" collective of South African musicians to perform live and record debut album "Wisdom Of Elders", a journey into the spiritual and avant-garde side of jazz inspired in part by the struggles of previous generations of black musicians. Four years on, the Sons Of Kemet and The Comet Is Coming member has reassembled the collective for album number two, "We Are Sent Here By History". It treads similar musical territory to its similarly essential predecessor, with Hutchings and his South African collaborators presenting tracks that, in his words, "meditate on the fact of our coming extinction as a species". While the music is nowhere near as doom-laden and miserable as that may suggest - it's very entertaining, thoughtful and spiritually involved - as albums go "We Are Sent Here By History" is certainly hard hitting.

Review: It would be fair to say that the latest edition in BBE's 'J-Jazz Masterclass' series of reissues is exceedingly rare. In fact, when it first appeared on Smile Records in 1976, only 100 copies of Hideto Saski-Toshiyuki Sekine Quartet's "Stop Over" were ever produced. The album's rarity is impressive, but it's the quality of the all-acoustic set of hard-bop workouts that makes it an essential purchase. As you might expect, there's plenty to set the pulse racing throughout, from the high-octane rush of opener "Carole's Garden", where dizzying piano solos catch the ear, to the similarly hectic and arguably even more rush-inducing "Stop Over" (a ten minute cut of epic proportions), via the sweet, sparse and contemplative "Soultrane".

Review: After the wild revelations of the first Irreversible Entanglements album back in 2017, this vital new force in jazz and beat poetry returns to International Anthem with a new set. Once again the interplay between the players and lyricist Camae Ayewa is electric, not least on the fraught title track. The subject matter weighs heavy but all too familiar - racial tension and inequality in America given an urgent voice by Ayewa, and perfectly accented by Keir Neuringer's saxophone, Aquiles Navarro's trumpet, Luke Stewart's double bass and Tcheser Holmes drums. This is essential stuff, both in message and in sound.

Review: When he passed away in 2016, Japanese jazz pianist (and co-owner of legendary Sapporo venue Slow Boat) Ryo Fukui left behind a discography of genuine gems. Chief amongst these was 1994 album, "My Favourite Tune", a fine collection of modal jazz pieces that for some reason was only ever pressed in limited quantities on CD. Here it comes to vinyl for the very first time. With no accompanying musicians, the album allows Fukui's incredible piano playing to shine. It can be heard on the breezy brilliance of "Voyage", the even more positive and life-affirming "Mellow Dream", the fluid and heart-aching "My Conception" and the melancholic, slow-motion closer "Nord". In a word: inspired.

Review: Back in 2017, Munich-based quartet Web Web delivered "Oracle", the first ever live-jazz album on Compost Records, a label long associated with nu-jazz and what they call 'future jazz'. Three years on, the four-piece is now an established part of the label's roster and here serves up their third album. Rooted in spiritual jazz and Afro-jazz, it's a breezy and ear-catching affair that combines good grooves with effervescent solos, lilting strings and occasional improvised, freestyle vocals from guest singer Joy Denalene. The results are hugely enjoyable and entertaining of course, but also brilliantly performed and produced. Do yourself a favour and give it a spin.

Review: Joseph Leimberg originally dropped "Astral Progressions" on his hometown label Alpha Pup back in 2016. While it attained low-key notoriety, the limited pressing made it fearsomely in demand on the second hand market. Now Dutch label de Rap Winkel have picked it up for a wider pressing, bringing to light the invigorating soul jazz firepower of Leimberg's playing. It's a style very much made for these times, when young, contemporary jazz brims with attitude and energy without ditching the roots. A stunning album, from start to finish. A special tip to check the stunning "As I Think Of You" with the prolifically brilliant Georgia Anne Muldrow on vocals.

Review: Originally released on Sun Records [SR 105]
1975 Altsax Productions / 2020 Sconsolato Records

Thank you to: Lieve Fransen for believing in this project, Les Disques Bongo Joe & everyone involved in the making of this record !

Dedicated to the memory of Noah Howard (April 6, 1943 - September 3, 2010)