This is another marvellous example of ‘melting-pot’ jazz and shows again the vibrancy of the UK scene. Like many others, stretching back to Joe Harriott and John Mayer’s Indo-Jazz Fusions, it turns away from the American tradition and brings in influences from the rest of the world, usually those areas that were coloured pink in the old atlases. In this case Ahmed has reached out to her Bahraini roots and bought them in a seamless melding with outstanding performances from some of the best players available on the British scene. It is dense, bold, compelling, mesmerising music.
It opens with Ahmed’s
flugelhorn singing out like the meuzzin’s call to prayer through which Atlas’
vocals, a bowed bass, bass clarinet, a violin and distant drums are threaded.
This multi voiced chorus then rolls on out on the back of a sinuous bass line.
The title track is a showcase for Ahmed’s trumpet playing. She shares the
frontline with George Crowley’s clarinet and both evoke the middle-east in
their tones but, by way of contrast the rhythm is a shuffling drum and bass
groove and it is not until Sheriff’s organ solo that all the elements seem to
come together. This is clever music, but clever with a heart. Mermaid’s Tears maintains the ethereal
quality with both trumpet and clarinet light as gossamer over a fractured, but
subdued rhythm, largely provided by the vibes. The voices of Randolph Matthews,
and the equally untethered Brigitte Beraha float over the top, riding long
melody lines.
There are some moments of
greater urgency such as Her Light which
charges in with frantic drums driving along at pace before it all slows again
for more wistful musing from Beraha and Atlas. The piece manages to bridge both
the energy of the drumming and the long notes that seem to drag the rhythm
back. Sheriff’s bubbling Fender Rhodes and piano punctuation add to the
richness; Manington’s bass urges them on while the vibes roil and tumble
around. After the haunting, elegiac Al Naddaha,
Dancing Barefoot is an intense knotty piece in several parts featuring the
voice of Alba Nacinovich and that bass clarinet again. As the voice soars Ahmed’s
trumpet pushes it higher. At Times on this album she has occupied Kenny Wheeler
territory, not just in the playing, but in the writing and arrangements too. Into The Night is stripped down to basic
percussion, handclaps, ululations and trumpet the contrast between the rhythm
and the lead is stark, simplicity versus complex modernity.
Though
My Eyes go to Sleep, My Heart Does Not Forget You stands
as the centrepiece of the album. The Arabic influences are strong in the
clarinet, the wailing voices and the declaiming of the trumpet. France develops
the complexity of the rhythms, pushing solidly and then leaving space for the
leads in alternate moments. There is an immersive intensity in the persistence
of the pulse and the increasing density of the arrangement. Closer, Waiting For The Dawn, almost feels like
an epilogue as Ahmed runs through all the elements that have made this such a
strong album. The Arabic influence leads the clarinet over shuffling drums and
subversive, swirling keyboards with Matthews’ deeper voice entwined with those
of the female lead. More magic to the last groove.
This album will, undoubtedly, make it into the end of year top of the pops list of the critics’ favourite albums and will do so for all the right reasons. I’ve added this to my list and I expect it to still be near the top when Christmas rolls around. It is another triumph for UK jazz, bringing the world to our shores and creating a new voice from what arrives. Interestingly, she hasn’t brought Arabic instrumentation into the mix which often happens when ‘Western’ musicians blend their music with other sources. It’s Ahmed’s most ambitious album by a long way (which is not to damn in anyway the fine work she has done previously) and deserves all the plaudits heading its way. Dave Sayer
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