Includes tunes associated with Phronesis in new arrangements. There’s a strong oud theme that chimes with releases like Anouar Brahem’s masterly After the Last Sky.
When I listen to ‘Blue Inspiration’ here I think not only of Phronesis when they really first started to break through but also of Braham’s Blue Maqams and not just because it shares the word “blue”.
I also think of the suffering of the people of Gaza on both releases and the retrograde, highly dangerous, direction the world has gone in since Trump won power again and as war continues in both Ukraine and the Middle East.
In terms of sheer bass virtuosity Anglophile Dane Jasper Høiby who is one of the world’s best jazz inspired bass players and who has long since absorbed his main influence Avishai Cohen look to the track ‘One for Us’ where bass-and-oud flavoured by woodwind on top and then a cauldron of heat injected into the rhythms is so potent. Alex Hitchcock plays a huge role on the album – readers will know his work with Ant Law from Same Moon in the Same World, one of UK jazz’s biggest achievements in recent years delivered in unison with a collaborative array of leading global stars.
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