An angel fell

"Ackamoor's saxophone style is all the things you love about Pharoah Sanders while also being recognisably his own. His compositions range from exotica-tinged ballads to gutsy free-jazz work-outs. The groove never lets up, and takes in hip hop, rock and, on one track, reggae. Succinct vocals are used on half the tracks and the lyrics are eloquent and relevant (about the environment, equal rights and the universal need for love). The most moving track, as it happens, uses no lyrics. On "Soliloquy For Michael Brown," named after the young African American shot dead by a white policeman in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014, Ackamoor's saxophone essays a heart-wrenching lament which needs no words to communicate its message. The album was recorded in London, and the production, by Malcolm Catto, drummer with and producer of Britain's Sun Ra, Ethio-Jazz and dub-focused band The Heliocentrics, is straightforward and unobtrusive".

"It's taken the world 30-odd years to catch up with Idris Ackamoor, the time between the trio of Afro-jazz albums he cut in the 1970s and his re-emergence in 2016 with "We Be All Africans". Ackamoor (born Bruce Baker in 1951) grew up in Chicago and was mentored by pianist Cecil Taylor before forming a group he led on a cross-Africa odyssey, presenting his music with theatrical panache - he still takes to the stage in pharaonic headdress. Ghanaian Afrobeat is one of the flavours in play, notably on the driving opener Tinoge, but his tenor sax often recalls the avant-gardism of Pharoah Sanders and he can be stately and lyrical when he chooses ... He (...) overlays his music with Sun Ra-style chants dedicated to ecological themes on tracks such as Warrior Dance ... The production of Malcolm Catto, of London's Heliocentrics, adds subtle, atmospheric touches, notably on the squelching dub of "Land of Ra". Deep and inspirational".

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"The new album will (...) appeal to a wider audience beyond the traditional confines of jazz and devotees of dub reggae in particular will find much in common in the music contained within. Overarching the work of the Pyramids is a lifelong attraction to both the music and philosophy of Sun Ra, and thus the homage paid to him on "Land of Ra" should come as little surprise. It is a bubbling percussive number with dub effect on congas and drums, and collective vocal chants ... [Another] source of inspiration (...) would surely be the saxophone and socio-political outlook of Archie Shepp, and the leader himself has clearly been influenced in both respects by Shepp. Overall, the use of dub effects works beautifully within the context of politically aware left-field jazz and the biggest complement that one can pay Idris Ackamoor & the Pyramids is that Sun Ra himself would surely have approved this band and their Afro-centric direction. A prime contender for the year's best album front cover and very 1970's in outlook".

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