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At a Glance
The clarion call of sax, fine sonics and a certain laconic feel that keeps you guessing are all winning elements on bassist-composer Misha Mullov-Abbado’s ‘Nanban’ drawn from an album called Effra which is out in early-2025.
A player – already up there with some of the finest bassists – delivers
We’ve heard Mullov-Abbado live just the once – but hardly in ideal circumstances.
Because if memory isn’t mistaken it was at a noisy festival launch party held in the Crystal Ballroom downstairs at the May Fair Hotel when the bassist above the din of a lot of media in full lig and blag mode partaking of the typically giddy atmosphere of that distant pre-Covid night played briefly among a number of different acts.
By then I knew his work a bit. And that glimpse indicated he was completely at home on stage.
This latest showing underlines the hints he showed ages ago that he’s obviously a world class player. While not as known yet his name can be included easily in a sentence that includes the names of UK jazz bass elders like Dave Green, Dave Holland, Chris Laurence, Gary Crosby and relative whippersnapper (still young in jazz terms) Tom Farmer.
Of these incredible players I’d say his sound is closest to Laurence’s, check out the way Laurence operates on ‘For Chris’ from Fragment for instance within the context of the John Taylor Sextet.
Listening I turn to a poem of Paul Valéry.
See how candid the tune!
Paul Valéry from ‘The Canticle of the Columns’ (1919) trans. Claire Nicolas White
What melody we draw
from the daylight at noon
created without flaw.
Recent work
The recent collaboration on ECM Mullov-Abbado was involved with along with Fred Thomas and Alice Zawadzki Za Górami I didn’t really like to be frank. It’s beyond my personal listening comfort zone so blame that. Although I note the album was included at no. 6 among the new releases in Richard Williams’ The Blue Moment best-of published recently a fact that represents considerable kudos for the release given Williams’ status in the paddock among the punditry as an éminence grise.
New Ansonia started the ball rolling
But I much preferred the earlier Julian Joseph produced New Ansonia released in 2015, that featured Jacob Collier heavily.
Herd and Chapman from that earlier release are in the personnel on the new recording.
Pathetically I have no idea what the rest of Effra is like but certainly look forward to it.
But I’ll make a note in my new Moleskine notebook to prick up my ears and raise myself from post-Christmas stupor and the ravages of time when release time comes around. It’s 31 January, the day of Mullov-Abbado’s 34th birthday.
Tones for Home
As for the album title: ”The word is often associated with the area of Brixton in South London which has been my home for almost as long as the band has existed… The album is an expression of my love for both my home and for playing jazz after a difficult period in previous years, and these pieces reflect all the personal journeys in that time.”