One to watch: Tanhai Collective emerge with In Lane

Breath of fresh air

We haven’t come across a new UK jazz act for quite a while this year with as much potential as London based six piece Tanhai Collective.

Open and loose inspired by jazz funk and the 1970s they exert a lot of instrumental appeal.

Tanhai Collective are trumpeter Walter Feeney, saxophonist Tom McCann, keyboardist Billy Hare, guitarist Louis Hudd, bass guitarist Sravudh Tanhai and drummer Ben Harper.

Hare who produced the album sounds Herbie Hancock influenced. Feeney is Donald Byrd-like a bit.

Instrumental focus

Certainly if you dig 1973’s Black Byrd you will be in your element up to a point.

But there’s no vocals in the blend and it’s less of a groove thing while still adhering to a soul-jazz core.

Horn heavy in the main statement of the woozy title track with a take-all-the-time-in-the-world poise Tanhai are a south-east London act who draw on a cross section of genres to wrap their sound within – broken beat, house, dub and hip hop. But to be frank the main focus here is resolutely jazz.

Tanhai over the Tannoy? There’s a thought.

Sits well with Corto.Alto

What’s here sits well with Scottish act Liam Shortall’s corto.alto whose Bad With Names was Mercury nominated this year. But it sounds less clubby to these ears.

Trainspotter anorak friendly

Tracks ‘Blue Note’ and ‘Railway’ are streaming.

The whole ballsy set of tunes isn’t a case of head, procession of solos, head, but more a chordal collage with a fat propulsive engaging motion to it.

And even though In Lane has a 1970s vibe to it what we reckon comes over isn’t at all in the Weather Report or Return to Forever space much. And with the best will in the world it isn’t as funky as Headhunters. But it’s persuasive. Glimpses of a leaning towards Wayne Shorter do crop up (particularly this direction fits in on ‘Ode Two’). The trumpet parts work extremely well. And ‘Frame by Frame’ has a lush all encompassing feel to the nu jazz.