MUSIC | Records – Jazz & World
JAZZ & WORLD EXPOSURE
JAZZ JACK DEJOHNETTE, RAVI COLTRANE, MATTHEW GARRISON In Movement (ECM) ●●●●●
Following last year's outstanding celebration of the Chicago avant-garde, Jack DeJohnette turns here to a younger generation of players. The connections run deep. Ravi Coltrane is, of course, the son of John and Alice, while Matthew Garrison is the offspring of the great Coltrane quartet bassist Jimmy Garrison. On In Movement, the trio meet as equals, reworking classic themes and originating several new compositions. Their take on John Coltrane's immortal Civil Rights-era elegy 'Alabama' is deeply moving, with Ravi's saxophone full of dignity, sadness and quiet anger.
As the piece gathers momentum, Garrison's distorted electric bass swells behind the saxophonist, while DeJohnette's drums roil. For all the nods to the past – creative homages to Miles Davis, Rashied Ali and Earth, Wind & Fire – this is firmly future-focussed music, with Garrison's inventive bass and electronics bringing the shock of the new.
JAZZ AKIRA SAKATA, JOHAN BERTHLING, PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE Semikujira (Trost) ●●●●●
Japanese saxophonist Akira Sakata has worked with everyone from Bill Laswell to DJ Krush, and lately he's forged powerful alliances with younger European players like the pianist Giovanni Di Domenico, and the killer rhythm section of Johan Berthling (Tape, Fire!) and Paal Nilssen-Love (The Thing, Large Unit). Sakata's first outing with the Scandinavians, 2014's Arashi, was a storming free jazz set, starting out at full pelt, before taking on a more reflective mood. Semikujira goes the other way, opening with an atmospheric clarinet and the percussion impressions of 'Snowing on the Temple Garden' before unleashing the alto sax and free drumming tempest of 'Blow of Humpback Whale'. In addition to his distinctive reed playing, Sakata is a wildly inventive and powerful vocal improviser, breaking into ritualistic incantations and manic gibberish in a way that recalls Kan Mikami and Keiji Haino, but has a cracked Japanese folk quality all of its own.
WORLD IDRIS ACKAMOOR & THE PYRAMIDS We Be All Africans (Strut) ●●●●●
The Pyramids are one of the most distinctive groups from jazz's Afrocentric period of the late 60s and early 70s, combining the free playing and theatrics of the Art Ensemble of Chicago and the Arkestra with percussion heavy grooves. We Be All Africans is the latest album from the re-activated group, and while it lacks some of the weirdness and wildness of the band's self-released 70s classics, it's a wonderfully rich and colourful album.
The title track is a joyful expression of pan-African philosophy, its vocal chants and rolling grooves creating a generous sense of community with the listener. 'Clarion Call' recalls Albert Ayler's gospel communions, with Ackamoor's tenor saxophone mapping out a blissful path to freedom over gently billowing drums, bass and violin. Sun Ra's influence comes through in the cosmic balladry of 'Whispering Tenderness' and the filtered synths that drift and warp through 'Epiphany'.
WORLD VARIOUS Space Echo: The Mystery Behind the Cosmic Sound of Cabo Verde Finally Revealed (Analog Africa) ●●●●●
In 1968 a cargo ship full of electronic music gadgetry bound for Rio de Janeiro disappeared in the Atlantic. Months later, the villagers of Cachaço, on the Sao Nicolau island of Cape Verde, came across a ship stranded in their fields, eight kilometres from the coastline. This mysterious vessel was full of electronic instruments that were subsequently distributed among schools. Many of the children who learned to play on those instruments grew up to become successful musicians, including the great arranger Paulino Vieira, and Katchas, who pioneered a futuristic take on the traditional funaná dance style. Spanning 1977–1984, the 15 tracks on this lovingly-compiled set offer
irresistible grooves, joyful melodies and colourful arrangements which blend electric guitars, horns and frenetic drums with all manner of synth textures, from the electro-glide of Dionisio Maio's 'Dia Ja Manche' to the chittering waveforms of António Sanchez's mind-boggling 'Pinta Manta'. (All reviews by Stewart Smith)
86 THE LIST 2 Jun–1 Sep 2016
P H O T O
: J O H N D U N C A N
SHVLLOWS
The Edinburgh four-piece are mere youngsters as a group, having formed in early 2015, but their Everything Everything / Foals / 1975-inspired synth pop is worming its way into ears across the land. We nabbed them for a chat about their music pals, future plans, and spelling their name with a 'v'. On their sound The combination of hard-hitting sub bass, synth and drums, mixed with delicate guitars and soaring melodies is not something you hear every day. Which might explain why the single blew up the way it did upon release.
On joining the camp of bands who replace vowels in their name with a 'v' The 'v' is there purely for the same reason the others bands did it: to be found online in the easiest way possible. Say Nicki Minaj released a song with 'Shallow' in the title, we would be lost on search engines forever. Plus, it looks cool.
On influences We love St Lucia, Chromeo and our Scottish brothers Prides and Tongues. There are loads of bands out there that have really helped us so far, such as Noah Noah and Rebel Westerns. The Begbies and Indigo Velvet have both released amazing new singles and we're really excited for Redolent's debut album.
On Edinburgh's music scene It's incredible at the moment. You've got bands, producers, promoters and photographers all chipping in and helping each other up the music ladder. There's something for everyone in the Capital and you just have to work hard and not over-expose your product. On future plans We have a bunch of songs ready to lay down in the studio over the next couple of months and a show at King Tut's as part of This Feeling club night, supporting Clay. We're sorting out some tour dates down south and in Ireland. (As told to Kirstyn Smith)
■ Shvllows play King Tut's Wah Wah Hut on Sat 2 Jul.