22a Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Lorenzo Morresi and Tenderlonious are back to build on the success of their first collaboration, last year's 'Cosmica Italiana.' This new single comes ahead of a forthcoming debut album later in the year and features a couple of gorgeous tunes. 'Acqua' is a joyous tune with a steady 6/8 groove that is loaded with flutes, sax lines and arpeggiated synthesizers. On the flipside is 'Tema Cinque' which comes as an electro ballad, powered by hypnotic drums and sweeping pads with lush and moody sopranos. On this evidence, the upcoming album is going to be an utterly perfect musical escapism.

Review: Ruby Rushton's latest offering presents a vibrant exploration of rhythm and texture, breathing new life into contemporary jazz fusion. On the title track, 'Stapodia,' an infectious groove shifts effortlessly between time signatures, creating a dynamic backdrop for striking solos on saxophone and trumpet. 'Kalo Livadi' bursts forth with a whirlwind of flute, trumpet, and synth bass, only to wind down into a hypnotic hip-hop groove, its keys solo lingering like an unexpected afterthought. The interplay of improvisation and structure feels both daring and deliberate, capturing the energy of a band constantly in conversation with itself.

Review: During a trip to Lahore, Pakistan in April 2019, multi-instrumentalist and all-rounder jazz musician Tenderlonious set about a storied collaboration with local quartet Jaubi, laying down a set of six full, original instrumental ragas form a single one-day recording session. The result is the record you hear here; the emanative sounds of Indian and Pakistani classical music, acting as a framework for a spiritual interdiction between Tenderlonious on flute and soprano sax and Jaubi band members on tabla, vocals, sarangi and guitar. A determinant synth drone, lent to the euphony by Polish composer Marek Pedziwiatr, underlies the entire suite, lending this six-pack a not unfuturistic mood of brooding. Four years in the post-productive making, Ragas From Lahore is a pristine, on which the boughing lops of the tabla, the effortless flurries of the sarangi and apical vocal, and the arch-mood of overcoming and perseverance through strife, are felt with full sway. A deeply foreboding, but rewarding contemporary raga album.

Review: Tenderlonoius has long been at the heart of the nu-jazz and broken beat sound that has proliferated over the last five for so years, as has his 22a label. They have both been prolific sources of new school sounds and old school influences and You Know I Care is another full length statement of skill from the man who has often worked in collaboration or with his Ruby Ruston band. It is a widescreen offering that ranges from brooding ballads to epic modal delights which will appeal to all sorts of jazz heads old and new. All the tunes are standards by some of Tender's favs including Jackie McClean, Clifford Jordan, Wayne Shorter and Duke Pearson.