A huge highlight of UK jazz this year and up there with some of Tommy Smith's greatest work which we reckon before this are the albums Paris, The Sound of Love, Azure, Karma and Mira.
Tune in, turn on, drop out
Slipped out quietly on Bandcamp - we don't think it's on Spotify or any other format so far so it's for streaming and download specifically on this platform thus far. The eagle eyed and sharp eared among all the dear readership of marlbank should be soon - or are already - aware since then of something extremely special here. Listening it's like being on drugs. You'll be tripping even while sipping a cup of tea.
Improvising freely in an ancient cathedral
To cut to the chase Smith - one of Scotland, the UK, Europe and the world's most significant jazz saxophonists for decades here improvising freely in a cathedral in Edinburgh as a painter works the images shone flickeringly upwards.
And the healing has begun
It's a document. But it's a lot more than that as you will discover if you dip in. More than that as you will discover, dear friends. And the first track is nearly an hour long. It was recorded last year.
It's all so beautiful - think somewhere between the effect gained on a Jan Garbarek album and a classic John Coltrane work - in other words mystical, almost a gnostic sense of momentousness. Not at all pompous mercifully or performative, more a feeling that the healing has begun.
The following 14 tracks are really short but equally startling in their sheer stillness and impact.
Bonus track revelation
And then an incredible gem. It just says ''bonus track'' when you glance at the list on Bandcamp. We luckily recognised the tune as 'A Flower is A Lovesome Thing' and reached out to have this confirmed by Tommy's publicist who checked it with the artist himself.
Strayhorn's tender classic was recorded earlier by Ellington and released much later. But this Johnny Hodges 1947 version was the first to be known by record buyers. Notable versions recently have included Ian Shaw and Tony Kofi's treatment on their wonderful live album, An Adventurous Dream, issued this year
The bonus is a duo with the great Manchester born John Taylor (1942-2015) significant in itself given how widely adored the pianist remains almost a decade since his passing.
Tommy and JT according to Rob Adams, Tommy's PR, ''recorded six or seven songs together in 2003 in New York and the duo track you mentioned, which is 'A Flower Is a Lovesome Thing,' comes from an unreleased album from that time.''
Evolution onwards to a sonic revelation
Taylor was on Smith's earlier sextet album Evolution recorded in New York (Spartacus, 2003) - Smith with John Scofield, John Patitucci, Joe Lovano and Bill Stewart.
The next two tracks entitled Luminescence Parts 1 and 2 recorded earlier this month continue the spell. And again this found Smith at St Giles' Cathedral with the artist Maria Rud at an event that marked the 900th anniversary of the ancient space and which ran in performance over several days.
Rud’s painted images were projected on to the stained-glass window on the East Wall inside the church. The pair had worked together on the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra’s Where Rivers Meet (2022) project, and as a duo on that earlier luminescent occasion last year.
Tommy Smith, photo: Derek Clark
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