YEAR BEST SO FAR ON THE UK SCENE: 1/El Roi, 2/Rowing Up River To Get Our Names Back, 3/On a Modern Genius Vol 1, 4/Alleviate and 5/A Year in the Life
”This album,” Sultan, a Londoner with Caribbean roots who is still in his early twenties, tells us, ”is my way of expressing thoughts and emotions that I have about two very important concepts: Faith and identity. ‘El Roi’ is one of the many names for God in the bible. It means ‘God of Sight’. The title binds together these two themes well. ‘God’ referring to faith and ‘sight’ referring to how one is seen and how you perceive the world around you.”
Stephenson – who was initially trained by the Julian Joseph Jazz Academy and Tomorrow’s Warriors and taught by Julian Joseph, Simon Purcell and Robert Mitchell and is a graduate of the city of London’s Guildhall School of Music & Drama – adds that ”the idea of ‘faith’ was firstly tackled in my debut album Faithful One and is inspired by faith-based experiences like: prayer and giving thanks.”
His sound is inspired a great deal by the strong influence of the great John Coltrane pianist – the unforgettable ”going fourths” quartal harmony approach contained therein – McCoy Tyner (1938-2020). But crucially the latest is less like Tyner and shows development in the arc of the pianist’s writing direction that shows the essence of this Sultan of deftly sublimated swing far more and that’s why it’s inspiring given the fresh breeze running through the whole album. Plus factor in subtle blending in the horn arrangements, beatific harmonies, and double bassist Jacob Gryn’s brilliant pacing of the beat throughout and some cool touches from trumpeter Josh Short.
Evident artistic growth
‘Unspeakable Happiness’ is a phrase taken from Steve McQueen’s 2013 film 12 Years a Slave in which the enslaved protagonist describes freedom as unspeakable happiness.
ALSO IN THE TOP 5 MARLBANK CHOICE
2 Anthony Joseph’s Rowing Up River To Get Our Names Back (Heavenly Sweetness)
3 Xhosa Cole’s On A Modern Genius Vol 1 (Stoney Lane)
4 Donovan Haffner’s Alleviate (Own Label)
5 Tom Smith’s A Year in the Life (Own Label)
MORE FROM MARLBANK
- A look ahead to Dominic Miller’s beautiful bandoneón flavoured latest album Diana
- Jon Regen, Live in London, Jon Regen Music ***1/2
- Russell Gunn & Blackhawk, Afrikan-Amerikan Book of the Dead: The Book of Going Forth By Any Means Necessary, Vanglorious Arts ****
- Giacomo Smith, Artfullee, Stunt ***
- Sarah Tandy, Delicious Capricious, via Kartel ****
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