Ameen Saleem : The Groove Lab

Composer Irving Berlin once famously said that "everybody ought to have a Lower East Side in their life." True and, although technically speaking Brooklyn is not part of the octagon that thrives between Houston Street and FRD Drive, the groove, that precious intimate rumble of inspiration, is the one element that connects one area with the other; contemporary music and its multiple historical declinations. While the paradigm differs and keeps on evolving, the end result is invariably of a similar nature, now as it was under the reign of the likes of guitarist Kenny Burrell and trumpeter Lee Morgan. 

Ameen Saleem, surely one of the most promising bass players in the world, knows the simple but elusive rules that make up a groove album, and this debut as a bandleader stands out between the crowded ranks of modern jazz. Innovators, conservatives, revolutionaries—all of them are sometimes connected by the one thing that Saleem boldly cites in the title of his album. You might know the Roy Hargrove Quintet, and if you do, you might have noticed the rhythm section, chances are that you have appreciated the great work done by Saleem at the bass.

While The Groove Lab strives to come up with an original and personal sound, the end result is undoubtedly not too far from those atmospheres. Saleem does not try to overdo or take the listener off the beaten path, but while the overall attitude may appear reassuring, the range of influences a good reviewer should duly list is potentially endless. Funk, jazz and soul certainly constitute the three main points of reference, but the many veins that propagate from these often abused genres, are virtually impossible to keep track of. The fact that he is lucky enough to be able to interact with amazing musicians (pianist Cyrus Chestnut, drummer Gregory Hutchinson and the already mentioned Roy Hargrove on trumpet) surely contributes to the variegated array of elements which, at least apparently, should not find space on the same album. 

Ameen Saleem manages to find the perfect balance between the idea and the usability—to use an artistically horrible but commercially positive term—of his inspiration. This is music that develops in layers: one enjoys the more superficial ones before venturing into the hidden substrates which keep the album together. For this reason, tracks like "For My Baby," with lyrics dangerously close to banality, flow from jazz to funky so naturally that the very nature of the music remains beautifully ambiguous and enjoyable at the same time. 

Flugelhorns, Rhodes and Wurlitzers, tenor saxophones, to name but a few instruments involved, can sometimes pose a threat to coherence, but the rich, colorful texture underlying "Don't Walk Away," "Epiphany" and the beautiful "So Glad" make this debut an interesting and challenging work.

Via Veneto Jazz and Jando Music keep on proposing high quality jazz whose most appreciable virtues lie in the clever administration of novelty and institution, with one goal in mind: accessibility. It is not clear whether or not Irving Berlin would have loved The Groove Lab, but what is certain is that there is a common language that is spoken on this and the other side of the river. Further east, a new star might be rising.

Saburo K, Saitama, Japan. 

Thievery Corporation : U can Dub It !

If anyone can dub it, Thievery Corporation can. Here’s an act whose sound very much embodied the turn of the century. Coffee table, lo-fi ambient dub; A mutant form of trip-hop that defined the lounge music sound of the Noughties. Alongside such peers as Boozoo Bajou, Tosca and Peace Orchestra, the production duo comprising of Rob Garza and Eric Hilton set the template for chill-out compilations and soundtracks for the more middle-aged connoisseurs in us. Their previous outing Saudade was a modern age classic; a soft, bossa-nova influenced pastiche of dream beats and palettes. There’s also earlier records Radio Retaliation and The Mirror Conspiracy, classics in their own right. The Temple of I & I, although not a massive divergence in their sonic template, has a more roots and reggae feel. Recorded in Jamaica no less, the LP has that modern reggae sound, with a mixture of live instrumentation, local guest vocalists and digital trickery all mixed together like a chilled rum and cola, sipped on a sunny, evening.

Alas, The Temple of I & I, does not hit the high benchmarks of prior quality. Very much a Thievery album in its own right, with the tropical rhythms alongside the DC-based musicians approach to studio-dub, the LP falls short of the classic peak moments of the past. That’s the problem with nostalgia, you’re always reflecting back on the good times, or ones which you favour towards. For an act with such history, and one eye on the past, nostalgia can be as equally as rewarding and destructive depending on which way you look at it.

And if The Temple of I & I sounds dated it’s because that’s what Thievery Corporation are best at. It’s another long-player that’s perfect for lighting a spliff to, and is seasoned with tracks that will undoubtedly find their way onto Late Nite Tales compilations and such. But it feel like the 'Jamaican approach' has been done many times before – even by themselves. From 1997, Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Hi was a dub-influenced, chill-out classic. But let’s face it, Thievery Corporation have never set out to be groundbreaking. So if you loved Radio Retaliation or still go crazy over The K&D Sessions, then don’t be surprised when these tracks start gently wafting into your Spotify recommended lists. As for me, I’m going to go back to listening to Saudade.

Saburo K, Saitama, Japan. 

Rough Guide To Ethiopian Jazz

‘Most of our Ethiopian music is based on five notes [pentatonic]. What I did was fuse the five tones with 12 tones. For many years I've been experimenting, and the more I do that the more complex it gets’ Mulatu Astatke.

New Orleans is widely seen as the birthplace of jazz, where African slaves created groundbreaking music that fused elements from both Africa and Western traditions. By the twentieth century, jazz (and subsequent African-based musical forms including soul, funk, and Cuban rumba) travelled back across the Atlantic, first through recordings and later by artists on tour. There, African musicians immediately recognized the source roots, adapted some, altered others, and in the process, created entirely new musical forms.

In Ethiopia, one of the first major musicians to lay the groundwork for Ethio-jazz was Nerses Nalbandian. His family escaped the Armenian genocide in Turkey, and settled in Ethiopia, where Nalbandi would become a band leader for many burgeoning Ethio-jazz musicians in the 1950s.

Largely credited as being the greatest innovator of Ethio-jazz and exposing it to the world, Mulatu Astatke was born in 1943 in Jimma, Ethiopia. He travelled to Wales in the late 1950s to study engineering and to the chagrin of his parents, Astatke began to take an interest in music, first studying Western classical music before heading to Boston’s Berklee College of Music to formally study jazz. It was there where Astatke took the fusion of traditional Ethiopian folk music and American jazz to a new level. Astatke explained its roots to the BBC, ‘There are tribes in the south called the Derashe. They are surrounded by people who play five tone music but they have created a diminished 12-tone scale. Diminished scales are very important in jazz music especially for improvising. We learn how Charlie Parker came up with diminished scales as well as Claude Debussy and Bach. But always on my mind is the question of who were first with the scale, these people or the Derashe tribe?’ 

By the late 1960s, Astatke decided to return to Ethiopia in order to cultivate Ethio-jazz in his homeland. At first, his vibraphone-based folk-jazz was considered quite unorthodox. However, within years, it transformed the capital, which came to be known as ‘Swinging Addis’. The late 1960s and early 1970s were known as the ‘golden age’ in Addis Ababa, as countless jazz orchestras and ensembles thrived in the city, led by the innovations of Mulatu Astatke and saxophonist extraordinaire, Getatchew Mekuria. Addis Ababa was in full swing in 1973 when American jazz legend Duke Ellington came to town and performed together with Mulatu Astatke.

Much of the Ethiopian jazz scene came crashing down the following year, in 1974, when a Soviet-backed military junta known as the Derg overthrew the government. The consequences of the coup and subsequent ‘Red Terror’ were profound. It left tens of thousands dead and military curfews virtually destroyed the thriving musical club scene.

When the Soviet Union broke apart in 1991, the Derg lost its backing and was subsequently overthrown. That decade saw a rebirth in Ethiopia. The budding democracy quickly became a thriving home of musical creativity. Ethiopian Jazz hit new global audiences through CD releases that included the Ethiopiques series and several Rough Guide albums. Astatke’s captivating soundtrack to Jim Jarmusch’s film Broken Flowers in 2005 brought Ethio Jazz to even wider audiences. Today, Astatke is still active, and his creativity has inspired a new generation of artists in Ethiopia, Europe, North America and beyond.

Saburo K, Saitama, Japan. 

Kerensa Stephens : Psy-House

Dunedin, New Zealand based singer songwriter Kerensa Stephens has enjoyed a long and exciting artistic career. In her early life, Kerensa focused on dance, with music as a secondary practice; the 90's reversed this. Initially she sang in experimental rock bands, such as Children's Television Workshop and Waste The Earth. This underground arty exposure suited and helped her develop a lyrical, poetic writing style.

Then the colourful, wondrous world of the Rave dance scene swept through the New Zealand countryside and Kerensa found herself singing with a local electronic composer ecophonik. From within the Eudaemony Tribe, they developed a strong and extensive set which saw them invited to play a number of larger festivals in NZ, notably Canaan Downs Festival, Parihaka, Kaikoura Roots Festival, Soundsplash and Dunedin Mid-Winter Solstice Party. 

Throughout the decade this was taking place, Kerensa met Auckland based electronica luminary Michael Westcot aka Terra Nine. She wrote a number of songs for two of his fabulous and well-received albums, Streamofconsciousness and Breathe. They toured in Europe, playing at the Hadra Festival in France and Full Moon Festival in Germany and in New Zealand at Prana Festival.

From then on Kerensa expanded her collaborative relationships, writing and singing for Cosmicleaf artists Side Liner [Dreamstealers, Dreamer] and Zero Cult [Vacuum, Pop Insanity], Lemonchill based in Israel, Tempest Chill's Red Eye Express in Melbourne, Oamaru based Jac Grenfell, Dunedin based laughin' gas and master producer, Forbes Williams. Recently, Kerensa has been writing songs to Moscow based Sensorica's music that she has been performing live locally. As Aviatrix she composes electronica and enjoys melding blues and jazzy tones with experimental sometimes filmic soundscapes.

Aviatrix continues to write and expand, dream and dance, sing and produce original songs across diverse genres from Lounge, to drum & base, ambient techno, trance aria, dub, psysoul, gypsy folk and psybient.

Saburo K, Saitama, Japan.