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Idris Ackamoor & The Pyramids: Afro Futuristic Dreams
by Chris May
Idris Ackamoor paints on a big canvas, in vivid colours. Listening to the 2023 episode of his multi-decade Afrofuturist odyssey, there are times when he and The Pyramids stir memories of Fela Kuti's Afrika 70 and Egypt 80 bands. At other times, it is Sun Ra's Arkestra. Next up could be an unplugged Funkadelic. And there ...
Pharoah Sanders: Pharoah (Box Set)
by Chris May
With the passing of Pharoah Sanders in September 2022, almost a year ago at the time of writing, and bearing in mind advances in sound-restoration technology, we can anticipate a stream of previously unissued Sanders recordings being released in the years ahead. If this outstanding 2-CD / 2-LP box set is anything to go by, bring ...
Matthew Halsall: An Ever Changing View
by Chris May
Based in the northern English city of Manchester, trumpeter Matthew Halsall debuted on record in 2008 with Sending My Love (Gondwana), a stylish take on the meditative end of the spiritual jazz of Alice Coltrane and Pharoah Sanders. Halsall's emergence pre-dated by over half a decade that of the London alternative scene vanguarded by musicians such ...
Wayne Shorter: An Essential Top Ten Albums
by Chris May
At the start of September 2021, trumpeter Terence Blanchard released Absence (Blue Note), dedicated to saxophonist and composer Wayne Shorter, who for health reasons had recently been obliged to retire from performing, at least temporarily. Some people celebrating their eighty-eighth birthday, as Shorter did the previous month, might not welcome being the dedicatee of an album ...
Irreversible Entanglements: Protect Your Light
by Chris May
If ever there was a band which screamed to be taken up by Impulse! (or Strata-East back in the day), it is the semi-free agit-jazz quintet Irreversible Entanglements. Now, after three albums with the on-song but tiny International Anthem label, it has happened and, hopefully, greater exposure and recognition will follow. IE came ...
Balimaya Project: When The Dust Settles
by Chris May
Formed in 2019 by London-based drummer and percussionist Yahael Camara Onono, the sixteen-piece Balimaya Project blends traditional West African Mandé music with modal jazz and other sounds out of modern Black London. The ensemble's closest comparator, albeit at some remove, is the veteran Senegalese band Orchestra Baobab who, in the 1980s, were hugely popular at home ...
Bill Evans Trio: At The Village Vanguard 1961 Revisited
by Chris May
Liner notes generally avoid referencing current affairs, for the good reason that what is front page news when the notes are being written may be gone and forgotten by the time the album is released. But there are exceptional circumstances, and here is one of them. On his father's side, Bill Evans was ...
Kaidi Tatham: The Only Way
by Chris May
The Belfast-based DJ and broken-beat pioneer Kaidi Tatham travels a parallel orbit to that of the London-based DJ Ash Walker. Both are loosely associated with Britain's alternative jazz scene. Both draw on a similar patchwork of influences, including hip hop, rap, techno, old school jazz-funk and modern Brazilian dance music. Both approach the recording studio as ...
Manuel Valera Quintet: Vessel
by Chris May
Cuban born and raised, pianist and composer Manuel Valera moved to the US in 1994, attending high school in Florida before moving to New York City in 2000 to study at the New School. His classmates included Robert Glasper, Mike Moreno, Michael Rodriguez, Marcus Strickland and E.J. Strickland. Fast company. Valera's career as ...
Ganavya: Forgive Me My
by Chris May
London-based multi-reedist Shabaka Hutchings' interest in South and East Asian music, which recently manifested itself with his embarkation on an in-depth study of Japanese shakuhachi flutes, continues to spread its wings. Hutchings does not play on singer and composer Ganavya's meditative single “Forgive Me My," but he produced the track and it is released on his ...
