THE MIGRATION (Habitat) 7.5/10 The horn lines stab at the unflinching grooves with a staccato suddenness carrying echoes of James Brown and Afro-beat. These set up the tension of an often unfulfilled expectation of solos, like being in a cafe with the left side of the stereo running into one…
Category: Album Reviews
Sonny Sharrock: ASK THE AGES (MOD/Planet), 10/10 Blue Buddha: BLUE BUDDHA (Tzadik) 9.5/10 Darius Jones Quartet: LE BEBE DE BRIGITTE (AUM/Fuse), 8/10 Veryan Weston/Trevor Watts: DIALOGUES FOR ORNETTE! (FMR) 8.5/10 It was the glass in the face that jazz had to have. The idiom could have rested on the laurels…
AMBON (Bugle) 9/10 Lloyd Swanton’s uncle, Stuart Swanton, a prisoner-of-war held by the Japanese on the Indonesian island of Ambon during World War II, suffered appalling hardships and died the day before Japan surrendered. This double-album magnum opus is part oral history told through music, part heartfelt tribute and part…