Jazz

Empirical
Wonder Is The Beginning
Whirlwind Recordings WR4820; LP: WR4820LP

After the self-titled debut of 2007 with Courtney Pine, Jay Phelps and Kit Downes, Empirical emerged as the quartet that endures to this day. Nathaniel Facey (alto), Lewis Wright (vibes), Tom Farmer (bass) and Shaney Forbes (drums) made three albums with Naim before moving to US-based Cuneiform for Connection in 2016. On their first new recording since then, guests are tenor saxist Alex Hitchcock, teaming with Facey on three numbers, and pianist Jason Rebello, whose beautiful and empathetic contributions include a spontaneous duet with Wright. The title’s reference to Plato is fitting enough; with long collaboration, these musicians have achieved a philosophy that shines through all they do. SH

Sound Quality: 90%

Alice Coltrane
The Carnegie Hall Concert
Impulse! 5882868 [2 CDs]; LP: 5882869 (two discs)

Here’s the complete and official release of the epic performance given by Coltrane in Feb ’71 at a gala for the Integral Yoga Institute of Swami Satchidananda, the guru who’d given an opening address at Woodstock in 1969. With her wonderful harp swirls spurring saxophonists Pharoah Sanders and Archie Shepp, bassists Jimmy Garrison and Cecil McBee, and drummers Ed Blackwell and Clifford Jarvis, Coltrane gives two pieces from her fourth album, the title number ‘Journey In Satchidananda’ preceded by ‘Shiva’s Realm’. Then come two compositions by her late husband, ‘Africa’ (first heard filling two sides of an unofficial European 10in LP) and ‘Leo’. SH

Sound Quality: 80%

The Jazzanians
We Have Waited Too Long
Ubuntu Music UBU0153; LP: UBU0153LP (part mono)

This is a rather special reissue, from a racially-mixed band that flowered briefly in South Africa during the last years of Apartheid. In 1983 Darius Brubeck, like his father a pianist, set up a pioneering jazz degree course at the University of Natal in Durban and assembled a seven-piece band of talented students. Under his aegis The Jazzanians visited the USA, appeared on network TV, and made this album, originally released on the short-lived Umkhonto label. With danceable African beats and memorable solos, especially from trumpeter Johnny Mekoa, it’s a sunny trip back in time, its opaque and only partly stereo sound brightened by the remastering. SH

Sound Quality: 80%

Julian Lage
Speak To Me
Blue Note 5827638; LP: 5827639 (two discs)

Dazzling guitarist Julien Lage won acclaim for his 2022 album View With A Room and its companion The Layers issued a few months later. This time, still with loyal trio members Jorge Roeder and David King on bass and drums, he’s also joined by Levon Henry (sax) and Patrick Warren (keyboards). But their contributions are suppressed as producer Joe Henry keeps Lage’s guitar front and centre all the way, and as always Lage is endlessly inventive, a master of every genre, his many sounds all full of richness and depth. His chugging slow boogie beat on ‘Northern Shuffle’ seems almost facetious, a parody, but in a similar vein the rockier title tune is gripping. SH

Sound Quality: 90%