Jazz Fusion Review Round-Up

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 191, October 2023.

Nowadays, the line separating jazz from instrumental hip-hop can be incredibly fine, given the amount of influence that has passed back and forth over the past 50 years. Budapest-based trio Jazzbois embrace this permeability with their third album, Higher Dimension Waiting Room (Blunt Shelter Records, 34 mins). Here, the hip-hop and jazz are completely entwined, from the dreamy, lo-fi synths and fluttery piano to the broken beats and funky bass. It’s light and fun with a sci-fi edge, chilled-out but with enough groove to keep you dancing. Special props to Tamás Czirják, whose drumming consistently brings the fireworks.

Production duo Abderraouf B. Grissa & Dan Drohan also sail the jazz-hip-hop continuum with their first collaboration RBGxDD (Uno Loop, 41 mins). Together they make a dance-oriented jazz that isn’t afraid of venturing ‘out there’. Live instruments and samples merge seamlessly, guiding us through different zones – from rolling blues grooves to dubwise spacescapes to Latin psychedelia to a sound effects record – without ever losing the carefully-curated unifying vibe based on those two home styles. This musical journey hits more like an exploratory mixtape than your usual jazz album, and is none the worse for it.

Another album that hops between genres at will is the reissue of Ambiance II Fusion’s 1985 record Come Touch Tomorrow (Freestyle Records, 39 mins). The ensemble revolves around Nigerian-born saxophonist Daoud Abubakar Balewa, whose classic instrumental soul-funk absolutely oozes 80s production, with its heavy reverb, gated snares and ultra-smooth sax. Strangely enough, this album sounds like tracks from several different albums stitched together. Some tracks are live (or live-sounding) and others are studio recordings; some tracks seem to bear little stylistic resemblance to those around them – sometimes there’s reggae, or bossa, or even pure synthwave with no saxophone to be heard. It’s as if the album itself is a little unsure of what it wants to be.

New York-based Greek vibraphonist, electronicist and drummer Christos Rafalides makes an ode to lockdown in Home (Emarel Music, 50 mins), recorded in improvised home studios across the world in the spring of 2021. Each of the seven tracks features a guest musician, and each bring their own slant on Rafalides’ malleable jazz, whether that’s Middle Eastern from outi (Greek oud) player Thomas Konstantinou, light Latin from pianist Giovanni Mirabassi or space-age Caribbean from steelpan player Victor Provost. The latter is a particular highlight, providing a real complement to the vibraphone. Not all the collaborations work as well as that, but Rafalides’ musicianship shines throughout.

But if you only have enough space in your ears for one jazz fusion album this month, make it Peter Somuah’s Letter to the Universe (ACT Music, 41 mins). The young Ghanaian trumpeter’s second album takes a celestial, spiritual approach, creating a cosmic jazz with elements of bebop and post-bop, big band, jazz-rock, highlife and, of course, hip-hop. Miles Davis is an ever-present reference, and there are guest turns from Ghanaian stars such as highlife legend Gyedu-Bley Ambolley and up-and-coming Frafra kologo player and singer Stevo Atambire of Alostmen. From the superb trumpet playing to the intelligent compositions and arrangements, this is a brilliant album – there’s surely more great things to come from Peter Somuah.

Essential 10: WOMAD 2021

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 169, July 2021.

Horace Andy
Dance Hall Style (Wackie’s, 1982)
Every festival needs a bona fide veteran on its line-up, and prolific Jamaican singer Horace Andy definitely fits that bill. He’s probably best known now for his guest spots with Massive Attack, but it’s in the dub-heavy roots reggae and proto-dancehall of Dance Hall Style – Andy’s eighth album – that his distinctive high-pitched voice shines brightest.

The Dhol Foundation
Drum-Believable (Shakti Records, 2005)
Over the years, some artists have become WOMAD mainstays, and Johnny Kalsi and his group The Dhol Foundation can certainly count themselves among that class. Blasting their giant Punjabi dhol drums through bhangra, rock and electronica, they’re a guaranteed party starter – never more so than with their certified banger ‘After the Rain’ with Irish fiddler Máiréad Nesbitt from their second album Drum-Believable.

Li Xiangting & Cheng Yu
The Sound of Silk (ARC Music, 2019)
Pipa (four-stringed lute) and guqin (seven-stringed fretless zither) player Cheng Yu is one of the UK’s foremost Chinese musicians – her album of duets with her mentor Li Xiangting got a five-star review in Songlines. Her quartet Silk Breeze recorded a session of beautiful sizhu music for the WOMAD@Home series last summer, playing among the idyllic surrounds of Real World Studios; they’ll surely bring the same serene atmosphere to Charlton Park in July.

Lokkhi Terra meets Dele Sosimi
Cubafrobeat (Funkiwala Records, 2018)
Two for the price of one here: Lokkhi Terra, the London-based South Asian-flavoured Cuban big band, and Dele Sosimi, Afrobeat keys player and member of the legendary Egypt 80, are both on the line-up for WOMAD this year. Their collaborative album linked Yoruba cultures from both sides of the Atlantic to huge success. Fingers crossed for an on-stage reunion?

Mariza
Concerto em Lisboa (EMI Portugal, 2006)
Portuguese fado, with all its melodramatic flair and delicate, emotional moments, is always most powerful when experienced live, and the modern era’s biggest star is no exception. This live album shows Mariza at her best as a performer, accompanied by the Sinfonietta de Lisboa in front of 25,000 people in fado’s hometown. Granted, she’s not bringing the Sinfonietta to WOMAD, but her voice is an orchestra all on its own.

Onipa
We No Be Machine (IK7 Music, 2020)
Headed by Ghanaian-British singer and rapper K.O.G. and Nubiyan Twist guitarist and producer Tom Excell, Onipa use their hip-hop and jazz pedigree to combine vintage highlife grooves, dirty synths and layers of percussion. This is ‘savannah bass’, Onipa’s own exciting Afrofuturist style, and you couldn’t really wish for a more appropriate festival soundtrack – sound of the summer!

Gwenifer Raymond
Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain (Tomkins Square, 2020)
WOMAD has always had a knack for bringing new or lesser-known musicians to the fore, and Gwenifer Raymond may just be your discovery of 2021. Her second album showcases her mastery of the acoustic guitar with a mix of American blues and country roots, folk baroque and subtle influences from India and Wales. Engaging, entrancing and entirely solo – one to watch!

SEED Ensemble
Driftglass (jazz re:freshed, 2019)
Jazz has become a consistent element of the WOMAD line-up in recent editions, and it’s especially prevalent this year. Artists such as Nubiyan Twist, Cinematic Orchestra, The Comet is Coming, Joe Armon-Jones, Sarathy Korwar and Kefaya provide a heterogeneous overview of London’s booming jazz scene and Seed (as they are now known) are sure to be a highlight: their Caribbean and West African-informed 2019 debut earned them a Mercury nomination.

Anoushka Shankar
Reflections (Deutsche Grammophon, 2019)
Shankar’s career has taken so many different directions that you never know quite what she’s going to bring to the stage – the sitarist’s music has encompassed deeply traditional Hindustani classical music as well as Western classical styles, flamenco, jazz, electronica and, most recently, sophisticated and intimate art-pop. This recent self-curated retrospective gives some idea of what to expect from her headline slot this year.

Joseph Tawadros
Betrayal of a Secret Sunflower (JT Records, 2019)
The Egypt-born, Australia-raised and UK-based oud player and composer has graced the stage at WOMADelaide three times and – after a year’s delay – finally makes his UK WOMAD debut. His personality and dress sense are famously extravagant and exquisite, but his most recent album shows that he has no issue making his music serious, subtle, and sublime.

British-Born Musician Finally Allowed to Stay in the UK

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 154, January/February 2020.



In Songlines issue #150, we looked at the plight of Glasgow-born, London-based Afro-jazz singer Bumi Thomas, who was denied indefinite leave to remain in the UK after discovering that she did not qualify for birthright citizenship. Instead, she was threatened with deportation to her parents’ country, Nigeria. Since then, a positive outcome: on October 23, a judge ruled that to remove Thomas from the UK would be against the public interest, saying “I am of the view that the appellant’s life is in this country where she has made a valuable contribution.” Thomas played her first concert since the decision by joining Rhiannon Giddens and Francesco Turrisi at the Royal Festival Hall on November 22. Thomas’ case gained much exposure from the media and resulted in petitions and crowdfunding for legal fees due to her recognition as a musician. How many others are in the same, unfair situation who cannot benefit from such public visibility?


Photo: Bumi Thomas, by Emre Levent Malkoc.

Theresa May’s ‘Hostile Environment’ Strikes Again

First published in Songlines Magazine issue 150, August/September 2019.



With a year past since the eruption of the Windrush scandal, the government’s aggressive, unfair and illogical approach to immigration and citizenship shows no signs of improvement. One of the latest victims of these policies is London-based Afro-jazz singer Bumi Thomas. On June 7 2019, she was given notice that she must leave the country voluntarily by June 21 or face detention and deportation.

Thomas was born in Glasgow to Nigerian parents, who relocated to Kano, Nigeria when she was three. She moved back to the UK as soon as she could – when she got her passport at the age of 18 – and went on to study fine arts at Bath Spa University before moving to London to pursue her successful music career. Her style is based around jazz, but she brings in elements from soul, folk and many African styles too; her career has seen her work with musicians such as Tony Allen, Nneka, Muntu Valdo and Keziah Jones.

Thomas’ deportation notice comes after a decade-long legal battle for her indefinite right to remain – which was denied. The problem arose from the fact that she was born just months after Margaret Thatcher’s government revoked the UK’s birthright citizenship; parents instead had to apply for citizenship for their children. As Thomas’ older sister received dual citizenship, her parents didn’t realise the law had changed. The situation is being seen as a continuation of the ‘hostile environment’ policies enacted by Theresa May as Home Secretary, which have continued throughout her premiership.

Luckily, the singer’s popularity has led to her case receiving a lot of attention in the press and on social media, and the #JusticeforBumi campaign is gathering momentum: a GoFundMe page set up to help cover Thomas’ legal costs has smashed targets, and she has been invited to the House of Lords to discuss her case as well as the wider issues surrounding it. It should be remembered that Thomas’ case gained visibility due to her public profile; there are many people in the same situation that are fighting this system alone.

Thomas herself is taking positives from the struggle: “There is a surreal sense of displacement,” she says, “yet I have never felt more connected to the UK. I am tethered by my art and music, which enables me to heal, connect and make sense of my emotions. It has been a pretty traumatic ordeal, offset tremendously by the overflow of support, love, compassion and advocacy I’ve received from the London creative community, reaffirming my belief in the kindness of the human spirit.” On June 21, she officially filed the first stage of her appeal and, as of writing, is awaiting confirmation of a court date in which a final decision will be made. The thoughts and positive energy of all of us at Songlines are with Bumi in this turbulent time, and we hope her case can be resolved quickly and positively.


Photo: Bumi Thomas, by Ade 'Ásiko' Okelarin.