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Pulled By Magnets: Rose Golden Doorways
by Chris May
After a momentous start in the mid 2000s with saxophonist Pete Wareham's Acoustic Ladyland and his own band, Polar Bear, drummer Sebastian Rochford's path through British jazz has been distinguished, though not without the odd glitch. The highs have been Himalayan. Perhaps most notably, he played a key role in reeds player Shabaka Hutchings' Sons Of Kemet, and is heard on Burn (Naim, 2013), Lest We Forget What We Came Here To Do (Naim, 2015) and Your Queen Is A ...
Continue ReadingJon Hassell / Farafina: Flash Of The Spirit
by Chris May
The trumpeter and keyboard player Jon Hassell is often labelled a practitioner of ambient music. This is a misconstruction resulting mainly from Hassell's encounters with Brian Eno, who is widely perceived as ambient's originator. Hassell's oeuvre, a technologically enabled fusion of western and non-western musics which he calls Fourth World, is a wholly different kettle of fish. Eno defines ambient as “music that does not demand the listener's attention but rewards such attention if it is given." The ...
Continue ReadingUstad Saami: God Is Not A Terrorist
by Chris May
God Is Not A Terrorist is by no stretch of the imagination a jazz album, but it contains deep and authentic music and will appeal to some AAJers. Ustad Saami is a master of the Pakistani vocal style known as surti, which is characterized by its use of microtones. Microtones are widely used in music throughout Pakistan and India, but surti is a distinct tradition, dating back to pre-Islamic times. Saami's voice is the focus of the music, accompanied by ...
Continue ReadingJon Hassell: Dream Theory In Malaya: Fourth World Volume Two
by Chris May
Three decades and more after the last vinyl reissue of trumpeter Jon Hassell's landmark album, back in 1987, Britain's Glitterbeat label has released a remastered edition of the LP, which is also available on CD. The new edition includes a previously unreleased three-minute bonus track from the recording sessions. Dream Theory In Malaya, first released in 1981, arguably ranks as the most perfect realisation ever of fourth-world music, the acoustic-electronic blend of minimalism, jazz, drone, ambient and traditional ...
Continue ReadingAfro-Haitian Experimental Orchestra: AHEO
by James Nadal
Haiti is arguably the most African country outside of Africa. It's culture, traditions, and religious beliefs are intrinsically connected to the continent which was home to the ancestors of its inhabitants. La Fête de la Musique took place in Port-au-Prince, Haiti in 2014, to honor the music of Haiti, and acknowledge its deep African heritage. Afrobeat drummer Tony Allen was the special guest at this event, in which he performed with Haiti's premier percussionists and singers. The Afro-Haitian Experimental Orchestra ...
Continue ReadingBassekou Kouyate & Ngoni Ba: Ba Power
by James Nadal
African music is on an unprecedented upward spiral in terms of popularity and global recognition. Each country within Africa is subdivided into local provinces and territories, each with their own cultural traits and traditions. Mali, of course is no exception and has been in the forefront of this musical revival. Bassekou Kouyaté is a prominent representative of Malian music, due in part to his association and recordings with premier musicians as Ali Farka Touré, and popular rock and world artists, ...
Continue ReadingJon Hassell: Fourth World Vol. 1: Possible Musics
by Nenad Georgievski
Some records can be easily identified and defined by the time and the place of their creation, but Jon Hassell's records appear to have a different and opposite effect. His record Possible Musics doesn't give the impression of coming from a certain place, but rather from many places. And this collage approach where he mixed and melded different elements and sounds, belonging to different continents and traditions, into a pan-ethnic sound, with the technology of the first world was named ...
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