“Prior to the pandemic” has been my catchphrase this year. My opening line when asked to explain myself. I seem to have spent 2023 trying to get back to where I was at the end of 2019, so… Prior to the pandemic I was reviewing a lot of jazz. There’d been an explosion of new music, most of it made by young folks, scenes documented in books like Emma Warren’s brilliant Make Some Space, and its energy was impossible to ignore. In some ways the “kids” DIY ethic felt a lot like punk. Now I know next to nothing about jazz, so attempting to write about this stuff – especially from 6000 miles away in the Japanese sticks – was a challenge. A daunting task. I couldn’t really provide any background or context, but I figured what I could to was try to emulate my literary heroes, Jack Kerouac, and The Beats. I could isolate, get a bit lit, listen, and scribble down a stream of consciousness. So this is what I did. On a Sunday night I’d choose one of the albums that I’d been sent, and take a long hot bath. Now as the COVID crisis continued and I was managing a family of five, working and studying from home, this self-indulgent luxury was one of the first things to go, and so, my All That Jazz posts eventually, totally tailed off. Another thing that happened was that Cal Gibson came on board to help out at Ban Ban Ton Ton, and Cal was much, much more clued-up on the jazz, and soul, side of things than me. So, I “delegated” and let Cal take over those reviews. I’m currently at the point where I’ve been out of the game a good awhile, and not sure where to begin. I suppose I should start with a bath. 

ALBUMS

Looking back over the last 12 months, it turns out that I only bought one new, “straight” jazz album.* Things like Mark Barrott’s Johatsu and Greg & Gigi’s Dolphin, had their syncopated moments, but they were a mix of so many influences, and certainly not aimed at purists. Likewise Eddie Chacon’s Sundown was more soul than jazz. John Rocca teased at his jazz roots with the sublime solos on Refections Of The Sun. Calm’s crew of accomplished musicians also gave us a taste of their chops on their new set, Quiet Music Under The Moon, and even more so on the reissued Moonage Electric Ensemble. Italy’s Strata-Gemma took jazz in a modern dancefloor direction. Only Nat Birchall’s The Infinite really fit the “undiluted” “real deal” bill. Nat is most definitely, currently my favourite saxophonist, with a flow that follows in the spiritual footsteps of giants like Pharoah Sanders and John Coltrane. Nat’s dub sets, alongside Al Breadwinner, are also always stunning.

I did pick up a few reissues. Primed by Hunee’s selections for Melodies International I purchased Dorothy Ashby’s The Rubaiyat Of… and wasn’t disappointed. The LP was full of tracks just as special as Hunee favourite, For Some We Loved.

Larry Bright’s New Dimensions was a fantastic electric fusion find, care of Record Store Day, and Prime Direct. We Are Busy Bodies further fuelled my fascination with pioneering, eccentric, composer, Basil Kirchin, by legit licensing his 1968 Music De Wolfe debut, Mind On The Run. A series of short library cues that included slightly longer pieces of, for Basil, fairly “trad” jazz, produced in partnership with pianist John Coleman. Red Snapper released a riotous recording of their triumphant gig at Hackney’s Moth Club. 

I guess, in the main, though, I went for mellower gear…Tatsuya Nakamura’s incredible, incendiary live set, Locus, for me was all about the beautiful Ballad. Nenad Jelic & Laza Ristovski’s avant outing Opera contained the sunset cocktail worthy haunting, harmonica-led Rumba Balcana. Plucked from Paul Hillery’s Once Again We Are Children Of The Sun, William Easton Ensemble’s Kayenta Crossing wove a wonderful winding path between ECM and Windham Hill.

Singles & E.P.s

There were a few 45s, several of which I already mentioned when mixing up 2023’s final Chocolate Milk & Brandy – We Jazz’s Rosanna & Zelia 7, Kenichiro Nishihara’s Pat Metheny cover, Jazz Room’s repress of the much-loved Take Vibe. The imprint, run by legendary UK jazz-dance DJ, Paul Murphy, however, also issued Takumi Moriya Black Nation’s terrific, seismic, take on Joe McPhee’s Shakey Jake. Another scene-shaping veteran DJ Chris Bangs (it was Chris who coined the term “acid jazz”)  gave us the the lovely Latin, Nova Vida.

Mix uploading… maybe some reggae, to follow…

TRACK-LST
Tatsuya Nakamura – Ballad
Mark Barrott – Icarus
Dorothy Ashby – Wax & Wane
Rosanna & Zelia – Tonto Lar
Nenad Jelic & Laza Ristovski – Rumba Balcana
Greg Foat & Gigi Masin –  You Move
William Eaton Ensemble – Kaytena Crossing
John Rocca – Open Spaces Open Minds
Calm – Oasis
Kenichiro Nishihara – Slip Away
Nat Birchall – Kalaparusha Arha Difda
Take Vibe – Walking On The Moon
Greg Foat & Gigi Masin – London Nights
John Rocca – Reflections Of The Sun
Eddie Chacon – Sundown
Nat Birchall – Heart Spirit Love
Basil Kirchin – Paranoia
Strata Gemma – Complex TV Soul
Takumi Moriya Black Nation – Shakey Jake
Red Snapper – Hot Flush (Live)