JASMINE MYRA Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Jasmine Myra's sophomore album Rising is apparently named after her current status in the UK jazz game. She deserves the recognition: the saxophonist, composer and bandleader lays down a beautiful six-piece project here, providing a brilliant dialgue to contrast her first LP Horizons. Myra describes Rising as a "reflection of a period of my life", following on as the logical continuation from Horizons, which was "all about my experience during lockdown, and entailed overcoming my struggles with mental health". Rising, the sonic reply, charts Myra's experience of continuing to bulld her self-confidence. Through its glistening, refractive, yet soft progressions, demarked by detailed bell acoutrements and mutedly ascendant sax progressions from the star herself, the likes of 'Rising', 'Glimmers' and 'From Embers' make for fantastic spirited listens.

Review: Thanks to the critical and commercial success of her superb debut full-length, Horizons, Jasmine Myra is rightly considered one of the rising stars of UK jazz. This follow-up, produced by Gondwana label boss Matthew Halsall and featuring the same core group of musicians, more than lives up to its predecessor, offering a continuation of that set's musical and creative themes (the fragility of mental health in the post-lockdown age being one) and a whole load more magical music. Highlights include the gently breezy spring-time spirituality of 'Rising', the pastoral, ever-evolving beauty of 'Knowingness', and the Pat Metheny-esque joy of 'Glimmers'.