MOSES BOYD - Dark Matter
Exodus (8) – XOCD001
Moses Boyd - drums, producer; Ife Ogunjobi - trumpet; Theon Cross - tuba; Nathaniel Cross - trombone, bass trombone; Binker Golding - tenor sax; Nubya Garcia - tenor sax; Michael Underwood - tenor sax, flute; Chelsea Carmichael - baritone sax; Arnaud Guichard - alto sax; Joe Armon Jones - keys; Artie Zaitz - guitar; Philip Harper - percussion; Poppy Ajudha - vocals;
Obongjayar - vocals; Steven Umoh - vocals; Nonku Phiri - vocal; Klein - vocals
Boyd came to the fore with his strident sax and drums duo with Binker Golding, and followed up wth the dubstep-abstract ‘Rye Lane Shuffle’, so it’s something of a surprise that his first album release as leader, songwriter and producer should be dominated by a relatively easy-on-the-ear Afrobeat inflected contemporary jazz funk. ‘Stranger Than Fiction’ features ambient keys, mournful sax melodies and nocturnal muted trumpet over a scintillating rhythm track of skittering hi hats and low-end brass bassline from the Cross brothers - the feel is actually quite similar to some of Eddie Henderson’s 1970s fusion LPs for Blue Note. ‘B.T.B’ has massed horns over a pulsating afrobeat groove climaxing in some fluid, biting-toned guitar work from long-time associate Artie Zaitz: ‘Y.O.Y.O’ has a similarly afro feel with dreamy horns floating over Theon Cross’ tuba growl and some alternately psychedelic and jazzily clear-toned interludes from the superb Zaitz. Keys man du jour Joe Armon Jones gets a feature as well, his piano rippling effortlessly over an uptempo two-step on ‘2 Far Gone’, reminiscent of the Yusuf Kamaal format.
The vocal contributions are nicely judged to inject a contemporary feel to the album - Poppy Ajudha is cooly soulful over an ambient Sonar Kollectiv groove background while Nonku Phiri’s track pushes the envelope a bit further, with her voice and Nubya’s sax drifting together over a darkly abstract electronic soundscape. ‘Only You’ has a similarly ambient-electro feel, but the general vibe throughout the record is warmer and more organic. The intensity rises noticeably for Obongjayar’s feature ‘Dancing In The Dark’ - no relation to the Dietz/Schwartz song popularised by Artie Shaw, it’s an angry tale of urban alienation that simultaneously lifts and darkens the impact of the album. It’s nice to hear some candid audio clips from much-loved elder statesman Gary Crosby featured on the epic downtempo closer ‘What Now'
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
Exodus (8) – XOCD001
Moses Boyd - drums, producer; Ife Ogunjobi - trumpet; Theon Cross - tuba; Nathaniel Cross - trombone, bass trombone; Binker Golding - tenor sax; Nubya Garcia - tenor sax; Michael Underwood - tenor sax, flute; Chelsea Carmichael - baritone sax; Arnaud Guichard - alto sax; Joe Armon Jones - keys; Artie Zaitz - guitar; Philip Harper - percussion; Poppy Ajudha - vocals;
Obongjayar - vocals; Steven Umoh - vocals; Nonku Phiri - vocal; Klein - vocals
Boyd came to the fore with his strident sax and drums duo with Binker Golding, and followed up wth the dubstep-abstract ‘Rye Lane Shuffle’, so it’s something of a surprise that his first album release as leader, songwriter and producer should be dominated by a relatively easy-on-the-ear Afrobeat inflected contemporary jazz funk. ‘Stranger Than Fiction’ features ambient keys, mournful sax melodies and nocturnal muted trumpet over a scintillating rhythm track of skittering hi hats and low-end brass bassline from the Cross brothers - the feel is actually quite similar to some of Eddie Henderson’s 1970s fusion LPs for Blue Note. ‘B.T.B’ has massed horns over a pulsating afrobeat groove climaxing in some fluid, biting-toned guitar work from long-time associate Artie Zaitz: ‘Y.O.Y.O’ has a similarly afro feel with dreamy horns floating over Theon Cross’ tuba growl and some alternately psychedelic and jazzily clear-toned interludes from the superb Zaitz. Keys man du jour Joe Armon Jones gets a feature as well, his piano rippling effortlessly over an uptempo two-step on ‘2 Far Gone’, reminiscent of the Yusuf Kamaal format.
The vocal contributions are nicely judged to inject a contemporary feel to the album - Poppy Ajudha is cooly soulful over an ambient Sonar Kollectiv groove background while Nonku Phiri’s track pushes the envelope a bit further, with her voice and Nubya’s sax drifting together over a darkly abstract electronic soundscape. ‘Only You’ has a similarly ambient-electro feel, but the general vibe throughout the record is warmer and more organic. The intensity rises noticeably for Obongjayar’s feature ‘Dancing In The Dark’ - no relation to the Dietz/Schwartz song popularised by Artie Shaw, it’s an angry tale of urban alienation that simultaneously lifts and darkens the impact of the album. It’s nice to hear some candid audio clips from much-loved elder statesman Gary Crosby featured on the epic downtempo closer ‘What Now'
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
