Cassie Kinoshi’s Seed with NikNak & The London Contemporary Orchestra – gratitude (IARC)

Aah! The elusive Ms Kinoshi. I had tickets to see her at the Jazz Festival at the Sage that Covid killed and when I went to Cheltenham this year she was stuck in Berlin with visa problems so we have had to make do with the excellent Driftglass album from 2019 and now this pair of suites (gratitude in four parts plus two interludes and Smoke In The Sun) recorded in 2021 and 2023 respectively. It’s a brief (27 minutes) album but it shows Kinoshie’s strength as a composer and arranger admirably. I suppose it would probably fall into the third stream category but it is by no means a mellow jazz-with-strings work. Instead, it is bold and strident in parts with the strings as part of a full widescreen work of great depth that sees Kinoshi marshal the musicians boldly to create a work that can be quite overwhelming but still allows moments of individual improvisation.

gratitude, itself, is a hugely hopeful and optimistic piece, building from thin strings in Part i  to a fully voice orchestral piece with a soaring trumpet to lift all hopes higher. Part ii allows for intricate interaction between members of the orchestra, over Gabriel-Boyle’s rattling, propulsive drumming, before it all falls away for Shirley Tetteh’s finely picked guitar solo that rides out on a bed of strings as everyone comes in behind her again. Kinoshi seems to be controlling this ebb and flow as if she were directing the natural elements themselves. Part iii sun through my window evokes the dawn with its gentle flute solo and forestry sounds arranged for percussion before the deeper instruments add depth and gravitas; even here though the smaller creatures are voiced with electronic swirls, playing optimistically. Part iv includes some more impressive ensemble playing as the lower pitched voices set up a foundation for the higher voices to soar and swoop above and includes Kinoshi’s opportunity to solo.

Smoke In the Sun strips back the ensemble to only the 10 members of seed., though that’s plenty to be going on with. Again, Kinoshi’s prowess as an arranger shines through as she moves the various voices around, though this time there is more space for soloing whether it’s Sheila Maurice-Greys tenor sax sitting on top of the arrangement or Tetteh’s guitar picking her way through it. The only downside, as with the whole album, is its brevity! Dave Sayer

Cassie Kinoshi (alto saxophone and composer); NikNak (turntables); Jack Banjo Courtney (trumpet 1); Joseph Oti-Akenteng (trumpet 2); Deji ljishakin  (tenor saxophone); Joe Bristow (trombone); Hanna Mbuya (tuba); Maria Chiara Argirò (piano); Shirley Tetteh (guitar); Karl Onibuje (double bass); Rio Kai (double bass); Patrick Gabriel-Boyle (drums); Clare Bennett (flute); Alastair Penman )clarinet and bass clarinet); Ellie Consta (violin 1); Gillon Cameron (violin 2); Jordan Bergmans (viola); James Douglas (cello) Sheila Maurice-Grey (trumpet); Deschanel Gordon (piano)