Gratitude

In March 2023, composer, saxophonist and arranger Cassie Kinoshi premiered and recorded her long form composition Gratitude to a sold-out audience in the Purcell Room of the Southbank Centre. It was composed for her ensemble seed. members of the London Contemporary Orchestra, and award-winning turntablist NikNak. That work is presented here as Kinoshis International Anthem debut. Gratitude reflects Kinoshis long meditation on the emotion of the title and using it to focus her mental health to guide her own healing. The impetus was a "gratitude book" kept by her mother, listing something to be thankful for each day, whether it be recently planted garden flowers, butterflies near a tree, or the morning sun. That act re-focused her mind with gratitude as a central life practice. Inspired by her mothers focus on natural beauty, gratitude itself and its relationship with mental health, Kinoshi wrote with inspired concentration. This incarnation of seed. is large: 18 pieces that includes two bassists, reeds, brass, string quartet, piano, guitar (played by Shirley Tetteh), drums, and turntables. The work contains four movements and two interludes. It is introduced in "I" by droning violin, elliptical piano, and gently swelling reeds and brass. Strings frame the simmering twinned basses and drum kit pulse introducing a loping trumpet solo from Jack Banjo Courtney. The band ratchets the intensity with measured focus before asserting a near processional anthem. "II" retains the theme yet strips it back as strings, drums, bass, and piano, and later reeds, brass, and electric guitar, build out the harmony, adding a Latin tinge with modal accents. The all-too-brief "Interlude I" is simply a vehicle for Tettehs guitar in an elliptical conversation with piano, strings and drums. It gives way to "Sun Through My K Window" reflects an experience at Kinoshis writing desk when, daily at three p.m. the winter sun sat opposite her window and shone on her face. It brought her contentment and became her first conscious acknowledgment of gratitude in her everyday life. There is gorgeous interplay between strings, turntable and Maria Chiara Argiros lilting yet unwavering piano. "Interlude 2" is a darkly-tinged fantasia for strings with a single piano note pulse. It introduces the closing movement, "IV," introduced with swing via atmospheric guitar and a brief trumpet break. Brass and strings join, playing together contrapuntally, as piano, drums and the basses bridge the conversational poles. Kinoshis soulful alto solo builds intensity before the rhythm section carries it. The final third is rich in dialogue between clarinet, trombone and trumpets with turnable effects elevating the exchange before strings frame its nadir. the album closes with a recorded live performance of "Smoke in the Sun" in April 2021 with a 10-piece seed. It is introduced by a double bass, electric guitar and drums, before horns deliver graceful swing, Tettehs lithe guitar break, and Kinoshis alto solo. Gratitude is a real achievement. Its modern jazz suite that reflects Kinoshis considerable gifts as composer and arranger, but also communicated the complexities and possibilities of its namesake emotion. ~ Thom Jurek