We out here
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Reviews (4)
All about jazz
d. 5. Apr. 2018
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Chris May
d. 5. Apr. 2018
"Something exceptional is happening in London in spring 2018. A succession of albums, recorded by an intimately connected community of around 60 young musicians, is taking jazz in ear-opening new directions. Hybridisation and genretic modification are the names of the game, but the scene also reaffirms the music's traditional building-blocks, among them the creativity of black musicians in Britain, North America, the Caribbean and Africa. Nothing quite like this has happened in Britain for around 30 years. Not on this scale anyway ... Here comes Armon-Jones's own-name debut ... A 100% proof blend of jazz, fusion, hip hop and dub, the album showcases Armon-Jones's breathtaking sonic-wizardry. It also reveals him to be a composer of note. His lyrics are perhaps a tad perfunctory, but no matter - he writes great tunes and interesting arrangements. And he brings a seemingly inexhaustible bag of timbral tricks to the Wurlitzer. The band, drawn in the main from the "We OutHere"family, is top ranking, too, with a killer rhythm section and strong frontline-contributions from [Nubya] Garcia and trumpeter Dylan Jones".
Clash
d. 24. May 2018
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d. 24. May 2018
"Joe Armon-Jones is one of the most prodigious musicians in the new wave of jazz eminating from London right now ... 'Starting Today' is his debut album (proper), and it's a key moment for Armon-Jones in his evolution both as a composer and as a band-leader. It's a broad-ranging work, one that chafes at the limits of what could traditionally be termed jazz while retaining a clear spiritual element ... The band listing reads like a who's who of cutting edge music in London right now. Moses Boyd contributes on drums, Nubya Garcia's emphatic saxophone playing is a joy ... The 10 minute 'Mollison Dub' is a real centrepiece, a nexus of musical impulses that streets from New Orleans to Hackney soundsystem culture and back again. 'Ragify' ratchets the tempo up into Fela Kuti territory, an intense nine minute workout in which Joe Armon-Jones' keyboard playing takes on the form of Herbie Hancock's fusion work, but given a sense of London grit in the process".
Pitchfork
d. 7. May 2018
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By
Philip Mlynar
d. 7. May 2018
"This solo debut from a fixture of London's vital and eclectic jazz community delves into dub, soul, and fusion on a journey from the scene's diverse roots to its exhilarating present ... Collaboration and cross-pollination are at the heart of the "We Out Here" ethos. On "Starting Today", Armon-Jones takes a modern-jazz journey from the discrete influences on that eclectic London sound to its thrillingly diverse present - and stakes his claim as one of the scene's most promising voices".
OrkesterJournalen
2018 #4
By
By
Magnus Nygren
2018 #4
""OJ rekommenderar" - "Som ett typexempel för den nya uppskrivna brittiska jazzscenen rör sig pianisten Joe Armon-Jones på flera fält när han debuterar med Starting Today. Precis som när jazzen för länge sedan definierades av influenser och melodier från dåtidens musikaler genomsyras Starting Today av vår samtids populärmusik. Dub, hiphop, leftfield och r'n'b möter jazz, soul och en stundtals ganska sleazy funk. Därtill ett av vår mörka tids mest kontroversiella budskap: godhet och tolerans. Eller som sångaren Ashebar sjunger i titellåten: "Starting today, I'm gonna wipe the blood off these streets/Starting today, spread love in the community." Den utmejslade rytmiken driver på musiken samtidigt som stämningen stundtals är ganska avslappnad och öppen i sin funkiga skrud. In kommer även tenorsaxofonisten Nubya Garcia som i sitt solo för in både en dos andlighet som positiv futurism".