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Author of Funny Valentine, an acclaimed new biography of the jazz trumpet player and singer, Chet Baker.
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Sunday, 21 May 2017 12:10

Yazz Ahmed - La Saboteuse

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Yazz Ahmed takes us on an exotic, extraordinary journey on her second album.

Yazz Ahmed’s long-awaited second album, La Saboteuse, is out now on Naim Records. It’s a more cohesive, more powerful statement than her debut CD, Finding My Way Home (2011), which probably reflects the amount of time she spent working on the album, and the fact that she has performed on a regular basis with her seven piece band, Ahmed Family Hafla. 

Stylistically, there are hints of Miles Davis’s early fusion albums, particularly with her use of the pedal, which has the effect of stretching, and almost melting the notes. But as with fellow trumpeter, Christian Scott, she has taken fusion – always broadly defined – in a direction all of her own. Where Christian Scott utilised hip-hop drum pads and traditional African drums on Stretch Music (2015), which reflect his New Orleans heritage, Yazz Ahmed has used Arabic music scales and influences that reflect her Bahraini roots.

The album has been released gradually over the last few months, as four individual chapters; a jazz way of admitting that there are no obvious hit singles on the album! If you buy a vinyl copy of the album, it comes as a double album, with each chapter taking up on side. But listening to the album as a whole, it almost sounds as thought it was conceived as two sides; the first more Arab-influenced, the second more alternative, influenced by the work she has done with the likes of Radiohead, following her appearance on King Of Limbs.

Inhale opens the album, the ringing vibes playing off Ahmed’s electronically treated trumpet. When the flugelhorn does come in it is delicate and airy, rather than brassy, a subtle amuse bouche to whet the appetite before the starter. Jamil Jamal has been in Ahmed’s repertoire for some time and is built around some Middle Eastern percussion, courtesy of drummer Martin France and percussionist Corrina Silvester, and a mesmerising bass line from Dudley Phillips. The main riff is played by Ahmed and Shabaka Hutchings on bass clarinet, before giving way to a warm solo by Naadia Sheriff on Fender Rhodes. Similar to In A Silent Way, but in contrast to some of Miles’s later fusion albums, each instrument is given plenty of space to breathe.

Misphonia, is a short piece, with Ahmed improvising over an irregular percussive beat, before going into The Space Between, one of the albums many highlights. It starts with an experimental, hypnotic feel, with the electronically treated trumpet playing over vibes and percussion, before the bass comes in to provide more structure, and the tune starts to emerge. There’s a lovely vibraphone solo from Lewis Wright, the intricacies of the sound beautifully captured by the superb production.

The title track opens with some beautiful bass clarinet from Hutchings, and there’s some fine interplay with Ahmed as the track progresses. There are some spoken word samples on this track, which add to the atmosphere, and whilst the tune sounds less structured, it is no less effective. The Lost Pearl is another highlight, the percussion beneath Ahmed’s fine solo adding a sense of excitement, before giving way to a more angular vibraphone solo. The dancing bass line by Phillips keeps the tune fluid.

Bloom, a cover of the Radiohead song from King Of Limbs has a more alt. rock sound, perhaps unsurprisingly, and occupies a similar territory to Christian Scott’s most recent album. Beleille and Organ External both see Naadia Sheriff take a more prominent role, particularly the latter, which is based around a delightful keyboard line, which quickly sees her joined by drums and vibes, before Ahmed and Hutchings pick up the theme. Exhale brings the journey to a close, allowing the listener to catch a breath after the genuine excitement of the music along the way.

Although the album was released in four parts, or chapters, taken as a whole it presents the listener with a very different experience, as if embarking on an exotic journey. “There are several transitions along the way,” Ahmed admits, “as the music moves, in broad terms, from Eastern to Western harmony, from belly-dancing rhythms towards rock beats, from traditional melodies to more contemporary sounds and a general feeling of moving from darkness into light.”

It’s been a long journey, too, with six years between Ahmed’s first and second albums, but it was worth the wait; it was a journey on which she found her own, quite distinct voice, a voice which embraces her mixed heritage, and takes jazz somewhere new and fresh. La Saboteuse is the best new jazz album I’ve heard this year, and by stretching the boundaries of jazz, deserves to find a broader audience. 

Performers: 

Yazz Ahmed - flugelhorn, trumpet, quarter-tone flugelhorn & Kaoss Pad

Lewis Wright - vibraphone

Shabaka Hutchings - bass clarinet

Samuel Hällkvist - electric guitars

Naadia Sheriff - Fender Rhodes & Wurlitzer pianos

Dudley Phillips - bass guitar

Dave Manington - bass guitar (sponge bass on Bloom)

Martin France - drums

Corrina Silvester - bucket, bendir, darbuka, krakab, riqq, pins, gongs, waterphone, sagat, frame drum, ankle bells & drum kit

 

Read 3052 times Last modified on Sunday, 21 May 2017 21:14

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