Affirmations - Live At Blue Note New York

Affirmations: Live At Blue Note marks the first performance of Theon Cross there. His band is composed of musicians from London and Chicago. The sound is raw, the energy unbridled and the performance deeply inspired. Cross plays tuba, often treated with electronics. The Americans include vanguard tenor saxophonist Isaiah Collier and drummer James Russell Sims, both Chicagoans, alongside London-based guitarist Nikos Ziarkas. The harmonically advanced compositions are performed amid rhythmic adventure with brittle punk intensity. Opener "Greetings" commences with droning tuba and electric guitars as Sims rumbles on tom toms. The drone evolves but never leaves that form; it gathers in intensity then breathes as horns hover together. Sims and Ziarkis add texture, electronic effects and taut drama. The studio versions of "We Go Again, and "Play To Win" appeared on 2021s Intra-I, but sound nothing like them. The former emerges from the opening drone with modal logic a la Don Cherrys Complete Communion. Collier delivers a circular, elegiac melody over Crosss buoyant horn. Ziarkis solos, vamps, fades and employs effects pedals while Sims freely improvises. "Transition" is a formless intro to "Play To Win." Just over a minute long, it places Cross in a solo role while Ziarkis adds electronic embellishments. "Play To Win" emerges with a telegraph-like tuba pulse as the guitarist develops a motif under Collier, who in turn responds with a wooly solo. The collision of reggae, ska, and funky rhythms join a maelstrom of harmonic sound. "Leap of Faith" segues directly out of it. Crosss mantra-like tuba meets Sims rolling tom toms; Ziarkis assumes the bass players role under a rippling tuba break. "Wings," a studio single from 2022 is rockist with a circular guitar riff, Ziarkis plays arco as Collier emerges framing a polyrhythmic tuba solo. "Transcending" dances through dub reggae, psychedelia, and vanguard jazz. Ziarkis amazing solo recalls Robert Fripps playing on the second side of King Crimsons Starless and Bible Black. Cross and Collier deliver atmospheric drones as Ziarkis journeys through raga, then digitally twins his lines under a wall of noise. "Radiation" (from 2019s Fyah) also soaks in dreadwise dub rhythms. Ziarkis and Cross play contrapuntally at first, then offer expansive harmonics and modal bleats that walk a loopy line between psych, prog and funk. Also from Fyah, "Candace of Meroe," weds avant klezmer and Afro-Latin jazz-funk. Closer "Confidence In Your Ability" opens with call-and-response between Collier and Cross. Ziarkis plays a lovely chord progression before delving into ragged funk and overdriven psych as Collier delivers a warm lyric solo over Cross and Sims deep, unified bottom. The guitar and tuba go to war as Sims doubles times the pair with funky breaks. Collier blows the guts out of his sax in closing. Affirmations: Live At Blue Note New York is musically fearless, energetically sublime. Its rowdy, passionate and uncompromising and a standard bearer for live jazz recordings in the 21st century. ~ Thom Jurek