ロンドン・ジャズ・シーンの中心地であるトータル・リフレッシュメント・センターのコミュニティで活躍するアーティストによる新録音を集めたコンピレーション『Transmissions from Total Refresh Centre』がブルーノートからリリース!

レックス・ブロンデルが設立した音楽スタジオで、ロンドンのジャズシーンの重要な拠点となっているトータル・リフレッシュメント・センター。この特異なコミュニティに集まるアーティストたちは、大陸や世代を超えてつながり、『Transmissions From Total Refreshment Centre』のような豊かな人間関係を生み出している。
本作にはサッカー96、バイロン・ウォーレン、ジェイク・ロング、マターズ・アンノウン、ツァイトガイスト・フリーダム・エナジー・エクスチェンジ、ニュー・グラフィック、レザヴォアといった気鋭の面子が参加しており、ニュースクール・ジャズ、ヒップホップ、ダブ、ソウル、ファンク、ドリルなど、現在のロンドン・シーンを表すようなさまざまなサウンドを聴くことができる。ロンドン、シカゴ、メルボルンなどのトップ・プレイヤーたちが、新しいコラボレーション、新しいやり方、あるいは新しい曲を探し求め、常に「私たちは皆、お互いを必要としている」という中心的な真実に立ち戻っている様子を垣間見ることが出来る注目作。

発売・販売元 提供資料 （2023/01/11）

In 2020, the Blue Note Re:Imagined compilation showcased the U.K.s current generation of London jazzers dialoging with and interpreting selections from the labels catalog. A companion volume appeared in 2022. Transmissions from Total Refreshment Centre offers another aural view of Londons diverse scene, whose musicians here are all linked by their involvement with TRC. Founded by Lexus Blondin, the Centre umbrellas a label, recording studio, and venue. Theyre regularly populated with local and global players seeking new sounds and connections. Set opener "Visions" features fluid rapper Kieron Boothe in collaboration with Soccer96 (a quartet featuring Betamax and Danalogue from the Comet Is Coming, bass master Tom Herbert, and trumpeter Poppy Daniels). It weds syncopated jazz drumming to boom-bap beats under the vocals. Keyboards and electronics frame the rap as jazz formalism contrasts seamlessly with Boothes modernism. Byron Wallen is a seminal and long-standing figure on the U.K. jazz scene. His "Closed Circle" combines crossover classical strings and North African and East Indian modalism in a post-bop delivery. Danny Keanes cello and Oli Langfords violin and viola set the elastic vamp. Drummer Tom Skinners (co-founder of Sons of Kemet) tom-toms set up a roiling rhythmic attack as Wallens horn and Tony Kofis baritone sax take solos, then join with strings in post-bop interplay. Drummer/producer Jake Long leads a sextet on the darkly tinged "Crescent (City Swamp Dub)." A rumbling, moaning, baritone sax solo by Tamar Osborn (one of the most technically accomplished and creatively imaginative players on Londons scene) pairs beautifully with Oli Hayletts droning electric guitar and the bluesy psychedelia in Artie Zaits six-string axe break as the rhythm section adds exponentially to the intensity of this murky, dubwise dread. Trumpeter/bandleader Jonathan Enser (Nubiyan Twist) and his Matters Unknown octet back the innovative, smoky contralto Miryam Solomon on the jazz ballad "Eloquence," with gorgeous piano from Lyle Barton. Melbournes futurist Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange recorded "Isa," a BPM-intensive meld of jazzy house, electronically saturated funk, and neo-soul with guest vocalist Noah Slee. The horn charts, layered polyrhythms, and fretless bass channel jazz-funk and Brazilian fusion. Neue Grafik lays down meaty low-end keyboard bass to introduce "Black" with rapper-poet Brother Portrait (Hadiru Mahdi). The latters pinched yet elastic flow offers hard truth; the only other musician on the cut, saxophonist XVNGO (pronounced "Shango"), supports him with a fine solo. Interestingly, the set ends with a cover of Charles Tollivers spiritual jazz classic "Plight" by Chicago sextet Resavoir. Led by composer/multi-instrumentalist/producer Will Miller, they capture Tollivers inherent lyricism with two drummers, samples, trumpet, tenor saxophone, and Akenya Seymours nearly transcendent piano and wordless vocals. Its driving movement is wide open as the ensemble engage one another in free-flowing, intimate communication. Transmissions from Total Refreshment Centre goes beyond the Blue Note Re:Imagined series, setting high standards of its own with a bracing set of transnational sounds. ~ Thom Jurek

Rovi