Nubya Garcia

Jan 24 2020

Best of 2019 #46: Nérija – “Blume”

 

There’s so much joy that emanates from this music.  It’s irresistible, and, really, why would you even want to resist?  But it’s more than that.  The way grooves advance forward in unison and how melodies are cast like rays of sunlight beaming in all directions and how the musicians become entwined in a harmonic embrace, this joy has a shared quality, as if sprung from a collective, a collective joy that makes it easy to envision others enjoying this music at the same moment as yourself.  This is the kind of experience that makes a live performance so special, of mainlining great music like so much happiness and being surrounded by people doing no different.  The 2019 release from Nérija brings that collective experience, that shared joy, right into the home.  And that is something truly special.

Your album personnel:  Nubya Garcia (tenor saxophone), Sheila Maurice-Grey (trumpet), Cassie Kinoshi (alto saxophone), Rosie Turton (trombone), Shirley Tetteh (guitar), Lizy Exell (drums), and Rio Kai (bass).

Released on Domino Recording Co.

Music from London, UK.

I wrote about this album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Listen | Read more | Available at: Bandcamp – Amazon

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Jan 5 2019

Best of 2018 #40: Maisha – “There Is A Place”

 

This sounds nothing like the classic Pharoah Sanders Impulse Records releases of the 60s, and yet the sublime unity of peace and chaos emblematic of the saxophonist’s approach to spiritual jazz echoes strongly in the 2018 release from the ensemble Maisha.  So does the potent imagery that becomes such an immersive experience that the totality of the recording feels like an epic journey through mystical lands and dream landscapes.  The album ends with the title-track, and since I’ve already set the precedent for speaking of There Is A Place in reference to classic jazz recordings, then I might as well state that this tune has that same resonant tranquility as John Coltrane’s “After the Rain.”

Released on Brownswood Recordings.

I wrote about the album for The Bandcamp Daily.

Music from London, UK.

Available at:  Bandcamp | Amazon

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