This show provides an opportunity to re-play some Cosmic Jazz favourites with tunes that have stood the test of time and continue to inspire us. All but one of these tracks are long, with deep, soulful and/or spiritual connections. Time to immerse yourself in an enriching musical journey…
1. Black Renaissance – Black Renaissance from Black Renaissance: Body, Mind and Spirit
Derek reckons he has played this tune more than any other on Cosmic Jazz and is proud to say so. Harry Whitaker – then aged 26 and a piano player, producer and arranger, perhaps best known for his work with Roberta Flack and Roy Ayers Ubiquity group – did something special on January 15 1976 – Martin Luther King Day. He assembled a group of musicians at Sound Ideas Studio in New York City to put something down to celebrate his (Martin Luther King) memory – and the date was just about the only thing that we planned ahead of time. Those musicians included Woody Shaw, Azar Lawrence, Buster Williams, Billy Hart and Mtume. Roberta Flack showed up as did an ex-wife who appears on the album reciting poetry. It was a wonderful, spontaneous, improvised jam – soulful, spiritual, poetic almost rap before rap. Then there is the story of the record being released in Japan after Whitaker passed over the master tape. Then, years later, when a friend of Harry Whitaker’s house burnt down, the tapes were found among the possessions. In 2002 Ubiquity Records in California and through the Luv N’Haight label, released the record – acknowledging that thanks to British jazz cognoscenti Kevin Beadle, Tony Higgins and Gilles Peterson. Simply, it is a must-have record.
2. Fumio Itabashi – Symphonic Poem Watarase from Watarase
This is another timeles classic. A Cosmic Jazz favourite that has also appeared on the show before. The tune Watarase by Japanese pianist Fumio Itabashi, who appeared in London for the first time at the 2025 London Jazz Festival, has appeared in many versions. including a remix by Joe Clausell. There are eight different versions on the double CD from which this track is taken. This take, though, is our favourite. It is described as a Symphonic Poem and is recorded with Fumio Itabashi on piano accompanied by the Kanagawa Philharmonic Orchestra featuring vocalist Yuki Kaneko. The song is a variation on a traditional Japanese folk melody and is named after the Watarase river in Japan’s Kanto region and showcases Itabashi’s Don Pullen-influenced style. Itabashi wheels away on the piano with such improvised fervour that you have little idea of what will come next. Meanwhile the orchestra is mighty and Yuki Kaneko is something else. Her voice soars into the stratosphere as the tune builds and builds to a full-blown, monumental conclusion with swirling piano, a full orchestra and the inspired vocals of Kaneko on top of it all. This was a live performance and we can only breathlessly imagine what it would have been like to witness such an event. We cannot recommend this CD take on versions of Watarase highly enough – you can still find it here on Discogs. This is another must-have record.
3. Jan Garbarek/Bobo Stenson Quartet – Desireless from Witchi-Tai-To
4. Pharoah Sanders – Harvest Time from Pharoah
Amazingly there follows a tune of exactly equal length to the Garbarek/Stenson – 20 minutes 24 seconds – from Pharaoh Sanders, with both tunes selected by Neil. It comes from the 1977 album Pharaoh. Like all of the records on this show it is unique in its soundscape, its vibe, its emotions and in the way it delves deep into soulful spirituality; it is rightly regarded as a masterpiece. The circumstances behind the production of the record were somewhat bizarre. The musicians on the record included guitarist Tisiji Munoz who went on to become a spiritual guru, organist Clifton ‘Jiggs’ Chase who went on to work for Sugar Hill Records where he co-wrote and produced The Message and Pharoah’s then wife Bedria Sanders playing the harmonium. She was a classically-trained pianist and had never played the harmonium before. This album was re-released in a 2CD/3LP set in 2023 with additional live performances on David Byre’s Luaka Bop label. There’s a version of Love Will Find a Way (which was recut as the title to Sanders’ 1978 Arista debut), The almost ambient textures in Harvest Time emerge from Munoz’s Santana-style chordal vamp to invite bass, harmonium, and sax in. There are no drums. Following the saxophonist’s blue modal solo, the tune travels across drones, transcendent guitar, and bass breaks, and near-instinctual interplay between the rhythm instruments. Listen to Harvest Time to find yourself entranced, spiritually enhanced and culturally enriched – it really is quite something.
5. Norma Winstone and Steve Gray with the NDR Symphony Orchestra – A Timeless Place from A Timeless Place
In 1990 Norma Winstone was asked by the NDR to do a broadcast with their symphony orchestra. She contacted Steve Gray, who had recently done some BBC big band arrangements for her. She chose ten pieces to arrange, with one being a version of the Jimmy Rowles composition The Peacocks, to which Winstone added her own lyrics – re-titling it as A Timeless Place. This veteran singer’s extraordinary versatility means she is equally at home with the standards repertoire – performing with small groups, orchestras and big bands – as with more avant-garde approaches – and indeed, both have characterised her output over the years. Winstone has worked with the late Mike Westbrook, sung with John Surman, Kenny Wheeler, Mike Gibbs and John Taylor and co-formed the influential trio Azimuth with Taylor alongside flugelhorn player Wheeler. Azimuth recorded several albums on the ECM label – the first three being re-issued as a 3-CD boxed set in 1994 and the superb first self-titled album emerging in 2024 as part of ECM’s vinyl re-issue series Luminessence. Very highly recommended.
More from Cosmic Jazz soon.