Elemental Rites is a mixtape of contemporary jazz sounds premiered by Turn it On, ranging from accessible jazz vocals to the cutting edge of the avant garde and state of the art new styles, beginning with the heat of Marvin Parks.
About the artists featured: Marvin Parks is a classic singer from the States living in Paris who knows how to join the dots between the 1960s and 1970s, Oscar Brown Jr-Gil Scott-Heron sound with a nod to Tony Bennett styled by the Italian DJ Nicola Conte who also plays on the record. Kevin Eubanks has put his TV house band days long behind him and is mellowness personified in a mainstream soulful tradition that may make many people recall Kenny Burrell and Grant Green. China Moses is a jazz singer for our times drawing on French chanson, soul, pop and down home jazz in an unusual combination and on her latest album is blessed with a great bassist and drummer who lay down monster grooves. Jason Moran composed the music for the film Selma and delivers a stride and free form masterclass on the track selected dedicated to his former teacher Jaki Byard to slamming effect.
Trumpeter Christian Scott no stranger to Irish shores keeps civil rights for African Americans up front and prominent in his aesthetic and injects a raw urgency to his hard bop and electronica fused style. Leron Thomas plays in Jason Moran’s Fats Waller band and is a singer and trumpeter who knows about the tradition in transition. Guitarist Miles Okazaki is an exponent of 1980s-90s avant funk and post bebop style MBASE taking it to the next level and this sits alongside the advanced harmonic work that he has been researching and yet has a rhythmic catch to it that is surprising given the many twists and turns. Pianist Shahin Novrasli is championed by Ahmad Jamal and is known for his use of the Azeri mugham modal sound. London singer Melissa James has an intimate, touching, original soulful and gospel derived style and knows her jazz songcraft. Dominic Miller, best known for his work with Sting, introduces an acoustic and New Agey guitar calm to the proceedings on his ECM debut. British saxophonist Denys Baptiste is tackling late period John Coltrane on his latest album going ever deeper. The Helge Lien trio inject some meditative calm. The ‘encore’ track, channelling the soulful R&B of ‘Dirty Water’ into open soloing space, is by Trombone Shorty.
Track 1 ‘Brother Where Are You’ by Marvin Parks 4:04 Track 2 ‘Time Line’ by Kevin Eubanks 6:27 Track 3 ‘Whatever’ by China Moses 4:10 Track 4 ‘For Jaki’ by Jason Moran 2:36 Track 5 ‘Kudzu’ by Miles Okazaki 5:20 Track 6 ‘Saga’ by Shahin Novrasli 2:37 Track 7 ‘The Reckoning’ by Christian Scott 3:16 Track 8 ‘These Things’ by Leron Thomas featuring feat. Shola Adisa-Farrar and Superpoze 3:56 Track 9 ‘Water’ by Dominic Miller 4:24 Track 10 ‘Live Again’ Melissa James 6:27 Track 11 ‘Ascent’ by Denys Baptiste 6:16 Track 12 ‘Jasmine’ by Helge Lien trio 4:53 Track 13 ‘Dirty Water’ by Trombone Shorty 3:47 [running time 56.13]. Thanks to Mark Willis of Turn It On