Night Dreamer Direct To Disc Sessions

In the aftermath of Maishas successful Brownswood debut There Is a Place, label boss Gilles Peterson selected them to back American alto legend Gary Bartzs headline appearance at the inaugural We Out Here Festival in 2019. The gig went off so well that Bartz took them on tour, and to play a We Out Here gig at Londons Royal Albert Hall during the EFG London Jazz Festival. During the European tour they spent two days at Night Dreamer studios where they committed this session to tape. Maishas personnel changed after their album: Nubya Garcia left (temporarily) to attend to her own bands projects. Session trumpeter Axel Kaner-Lidstrom became a full-time member, while original keyboardist Amane Suganami was replaced by Al MacSween and percussionist Tim Doyle took Yahael Camara-Ononos spot. These tracks are kinetic exercises in musical joy. The material includes three original tunes developed during the tour, plus re-worked versions of two Bartz tunes from the 70s: Uhuru Sasa and Doctor Follows Dance. Hard-grooving jazz-funk is the M.O. achieved via monstrous vamps, fingerpopping melodies, and interlocking rhythms. The killer interplay between the massively funky drum kit and percussion that introduce Harlem to Haarlem lets frontline horns work off rising star Shirley Tettehs chunky guitar. Twm Dylans roiling bass and fretless bass, and MacSweens Rhodes and organ vamps offer an indestructible frame for in-the- cut solos by alto sax and trumpet. The Stank is a dancefloor earworm. Aesthetically, this single recalls Herbie Hancocks themes from Fat Albert Rotunda, but is more intricate. Bartzs phrasing and soloing register his long-established trademark even as he outlines the rhythm sections tough play. The knotty head comes directly from hard bop while the dirty funk recalls the Meters. Tettehs guitar break matches the saxophonists solo in imagination and taste. Hinge track “Leta’s Dance” commences as a spacy, summery ballad, but morphs first into a steamy samba before shapeshifting again into a loping spiritual homage to Pharoah Sanders The Creator Has a Master Plan. Twm Dylans compelling bass leads both Uhuru Sasa and “Dr Follows Dance. Jake Long doles out layers of molten breaks in both without sacrificing the beat. Bartzs modal soloing meets Tettehs punchy chords and white-hot solo while MacSweens dirty comping creates an expansive yet ever-soulful collision of harmony and rhythm. Cut live to disc without the possibility for edits or overdubs, mistakes get made, but none get in the way. Make no assumptions, though: Night Dreamer is not a free-for-all jam; the music and charts here may be uncomplicated but are also tightly arranged and sophisticated -- everything is in its proper place, including the grit and grease -- placed in service to the almighty groove, with no room for overplaying or peacocking. Issued in time for Bartzs 80th birthday, this set is a zenith for 21st century jazz-funk. ~ Thom Jurek