Jazz with attitude is what we like at Cosmic Jazz, as well as music that takes on the attitude of jazz. This show has examples of both, including Donald Byrd who – like the late Roy Ayers in our last show – stretched his playing across genres. As always, CJ has attitudes for many moods.
- Allysha Joy – Nothing To Prove from The Making of Silk
Echoes is an excellent UK music monthly covering Black music. Each month they ask 20 questions to an artist or group – and there was one towards the end of 2024 that stood out beyond any recent Q&As. That artist was Allysha Joy, who in her second answer described herself as hopelessly romantic, defiantly independent and forever yearning. Allysha came to Derek’s attention as the vocalist with the group 30/70 but in September 2024 she released a solo album The Making of Silk. Jazz DJ/broadcaster Tine Edwards explains in the notes to the album that it was inspired by an 18th century shunga painting by Isoda Koryisai Love Interrupts the Making of Silk to be found in the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Now, this isn’t a jazz album but it has the attitude and the ambience, mixed with soulful – and at times mysterious – expression highlighted by the distinctive, husky, emotional lead voice of Joy, who also wrote and produced the album and contributes Rhodes and percussion. Nothing to Prove is full of unpredictable and swirling Rhodes and synth effects. Joy acknowledges that the music was written and recorded on stolen land, the land of the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin Nation (you may know this nation as Australia). In response to another the Echoes magazine question she explains that the people in this land – the so-called Australia – know the beauty of texture and space and silence inherently. That spirit is in her music.
2. Donald Byrd – A Certain Attitude from Attitude (Disc 1), originally from Getting Down to Business
After the tribute to Roy Ayers in the last Cosmic Jazz show we wanted to include another jazz artist who played what might be considered conventional jazz, but who also stretched out and took a jazz attitude to other genres. Trumpeter Donald Byrd was a natural choice and so this show includes two somewhat different tunes recorded by him. Byrd was born in Detroit in 1932, played with Art Blakey and became a leading hard bop player. In the 1970s he produced more commercialised funky sounds (see No. 7 below) – perhaps to fund his studies for the law degree he received in 1976? Who knows. Later in Byrd’s career (and like many jazz artists who got funky in the 70s) he returned to his jazz roots. A Certain Attitude was recorded for the Muse label in 1989, released on the album Getting Down to Business and later appeared on the compilation Donald Byrd Attitude. The band featured Kenny Garrett on alto (see No. 6 below), Joe Henderson on tenor, Donald Brown on piano, Peter Washington on bass and Al Foster on drums.
3. Shuteen Erdenebaatar Quartet – In A Time Warp from Rising Sun
Time to visit again the music of pianist Shuteen Erdenebaatar and her quartet. Shuteen was born in Mongolia and is probably the only Mongolian musician we have featured on Cosmic Jazz. She left the capital city of Ulaanbaatar to settle in Munich, Germany – a journey she describes as challenging and eye-opening. But she’s made quite an impression in the local Munich jazz scene in Munich she has made quite an impression on the local jazz scene and is now something of a rising star in continental Europe. She’s assembled a group of – in her words – wonderful musicians: Nils Klubelmann on upright bass, Valentin Renner on drums and Anton Mangold on tenor and soprano sax. Mangold plays soprano on the tune In A Time Warp, with an impressive solo alongside another one from Erdenebaatar herself. In her brief notes for the CD, she explains that on her journey she is grateful to have found my own way to express my thoughts, impressions and emotions about the highs and lows of life through music. She has not, as yet, performed in the UK but that day should come soon.
4. Matthew Kilner – The Space In Between from The Space In Between
The previous tune evoked a sense of calm isolation – and the same could be said for the album The Space In Between by Matthew Kilner, a young tenor saxophonist from Scotland. The photos on the sleeve cover of the album emphasise the feeling of coastal isolation and beauty. All of this can be found in the music on the album which is inspired by the landscape of North East Scotland, Kilner’s home ground. We selected the title track this time which features Kilner’s warm and crystal clear sax playing and great interplay between bass player Ewan Hastie and pianist Paul Harrison. The album is released by Scottish label Birnam CD who for some years now have done a wonderful job of providing independent artists with the means to get their music out there. We’ve found some great artist on this label and we look forward to more from this proudly independent label supporting the wealth of Scots jazz talent that’s around right now.
5. Sun-Mi Hong – Escapism from Fourth Page: Meaning Of A Nest
And here’s our second example on the show of a musician who left her homeland and settled in Western Europe. Sun-Mi Hong did not rate her prospects as a drummer in South Korea and so left for a new life in Amsterdam, where she’s made a significant impact, becoming a major figure on the European jazz scene. Her latest album with her quintet, Fourth Page: Meaning Of A Nest is her second for British label Edition Records, and her fourth overall. The music demands attentive listening and this short tune Escapism moves between sounds that are becalming and those that are more strident. She’s an inventive and creative drummer and a visionary composer. Meaning Of A Nest explores home and community, an album reflecting that decade-long journey from South Korea to Amsterdam. She’s recently performed in Wroclaw Poland with a Cosmic Jazz favourite, pianist Kazia Pietrzko. You can check out a recent Facebook post right here and if you want to get hold of the highly creative, improvised music of Kazia Pietezko, we recommend visiting Steve’s Jazz Sounds – a specialist site for great Polish and Scandinavian music and much more besides.
6. Kenny Garrett – Do Your Dance from Do Your Dance
We’ve already explored different jazz attitudes from across the globe and for this final segment the show moves towards more danceable beats. Alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett is another longtime Cosmic Jazz favourite and he also fits nicely into the show’s transition to this stage. Dance has always been a major part of jazz and certainly Garrett has seen it that way both in his own music and that of those he has chosen to play with. This is the title tune of an album in which he uses different dance themes (e.g. Philly, bossa, walypso, Waltz, Persian Steps) for the basis of his jazz compositions. The tune we’ve chosen is tight, tough and definitely one to get up and dance to. It features his quartet of Vernell Brown Jr. on piano, Corcoran Holt on bass and Rudy Bird on drums – and with a cameo rap at the end from Donald “Mista Enz” Brown Jr.
7. Donald Byrd – Black Byrd from Black Byrd
For this show, we chose Donald Byrd as someone who has explored a range of different jazz attitudes – à la the late and great Roy Ayers (check out our previous show for more). We’ve featured that return to his jazz roots earlier, but here he is on the 1972 Blue Note album Black Byrd. Gertrude Gibson’s sleeve notes tell us that with Black Byrd, Donald Byrd puts new vitality with a blending of vocal voices augmented with avant-garde elements used in his own individual manner. Our chosen title track is a real groove – starting with strong, insistent beats from the electric guitar of Chuck Rainey assisted by the percussion of Stephanie Spruili before the electric guitar of David T. Walker drives the music forward. Yes, this is definitely electric, yes, it’s a tune for dancers and, yes, this is deep African-American music. It’s music of Black pride and any lover of jazz needs to hear it. Byrd went on to embrace the nascent collaboration between hiphop and jazz, recording with Gang Starr rapper Guru on the influential Jazzamataz album from 1993. Tracks like Loungin’ and the Roy Ayers contribution Take a Look (At Yourself) were successful integrations of these two musical attitudes. For more inspiration, check out the music in the montage above.
Derek is listening to…
- 30/70 – Push And Pull
- Roy Ayers – We Live In Brooklyn Baby
- Juca Chaves – Take Me Back To Piaui
- Gal Costa – Falsa Baiana
- Michael Prophet – Turn Me Loose
Neil is listening to…
- Cadenza Collective – Hip Break (live)
- Roy Ayers – 2000 Blacks Got to Be Free (edit)
- Joe Armon-Jones – Hurry Up and Wait
- Mama Terra – Chameleon
- Syreeta – Blame It On the Sun
More from Cosmic Jazz soon.