Gilles Peterson

London composer and pianist Alfa Mist releases his second album on the Sekito label to critical acclaim across the globe

Alfa Mist has followed up his debut album with his second LP, crowning a European tour and gaining acclaim from everyone from Frank Ocean to Gilles Peterson.

The gifted London-based pianist and composer’s latest album Structuralism is an eight-track LP and follows the success of Antiphon. It features guest vocals from Kaya Thomas-Dyke (also the album’s cover artist) and Jordan Rakei.

Rather humbly, for an artist of such revered artistic expression, Alfa says: “Communication is my natural enemy. I’ve never been great at articulating myself… I just think on things too much.”

“I have been affected by my environment. My upbringing has shaped me in a way where I do not know how to communicate. Structuralism is about me saying I am who I am because of my environment and society, but accepting that.”

The Newham artist only started playing piano at the age of 17, “I did a BTEC in music, in college, but I wasn’t allowed piano lessons because only the A-level students could get them for free… There are no music people in my family…I thought, ‘I’m gonna teach myself’.”

A decade on and Mist is now considered one of the most highly-regarded, new-wave players on the London jazz circuit. 

Structuralism is out now on the Sekito label and Alfa Mist is touring in the UK throughout May.

New Emanative LP ‘Earth’ on Jazzman Records is a crowning moment for Nick Woodmansey and the band

This is one LP that needs to be heard. Earth is the fourth album from the jazz outfit led by drummer Nick Woodmansey – son of Mick ‘Woody’ Woodmansey  (who was the drummer with Bowie’s Spiders from Mars). Nick is joined on this masterpiece by a host of visionaries, including Idris Ackamoor from The Pyramids, Dele Sosimi once of Africa 80, Nat Birchall, Sarathy Korwar from Shabaka Hutchings’ set-up, Ben Hadwen from Ibibio Sound Machine, and The Heliocentrics’ Malcolm Catto.

This album brings a heady, multi-cultural strain of UK jazz with African, Indian and Middle Eastern influences. Emanative sound like no other on the current UK jazz scene and their LP comes at a time of great fertility. Their Sun Ra like mysticism and influences from around the world have created something more wonderful than their previous record – The Light Years of the Darkness – on Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood label back in 2015.

Nick Woodmansey

In 2008, when Emanative began, it was an output for Woodmansey’s more broken beat/nu-jazz productions on the Futuristica Music label. Nick’s musical journey has been an interesting one to trace. The Light Years of the Darkness in 2015 also featured work with Keiran Hebden (Four Tet), where a deep percussive, sometimes hypnotic sound (such as on tracks like Makondi and Four Tet’s edit on the Lions Of Judah project) displayed another side to Emanative. Drumming on the Lions Of Judah project – with Ahmed Abdullah and in dedication to Sun Ra’s drummer Steve Reid – was Nick’s best known work previously. All profits went to the Steve Reid Foundation, a charity which Gilles Peterson set up and where Nick is a trustee – all in the name of the legendary jazz-drummer. The charity helps musicians in crisis as well as supports new talent.

Emanative’s Ben Hadwen

Also featured on the new album are core members: Jessica Lauren on keys, Tamar Osborn (baritone saxophone and flute), Ben Hadwen (bass clarinet, flute, tenor saxophone), Suman Joshi playing upright bass, and three percussionists: Sarathy Korwar, Phillip Harper and Vince Vella.

It is exciting to think where Emanative will go next – with Nick’s links to the electronic world and the glitterati of jazz and world music. This new album’s quality and the evolution to this spiritual jazz-inspired collective puts Emanative in a new league. 

Two tracks from the Emanative album featured on the latest World Treasures Music radio show at 22m.35s. More tracks will also be featured next week on KMAH Radio, on Thursday, 2pm – 4pm (GMT).

 

Chip Wickham is the pride of the jazz scene as new LP draws nearer, second single coming very soon

Chip Wickham’s dogged determination has seen him remain a lynchpin of the UK jazz scene and recover from throat cancer to continue his masterful musicianship. The release date of his second album Shamal Wind draws nearer – with some fantastic singles already whetting the appetite. 
The UK flautist and sax player is dropping album track Snake Eyes on May 4th, following the Art Blakey-style Barrio 71. The album Shamal Wind  is planned for May 25th.  Fans of the artist include Gilles Peterson, Laurent Garnier, Craig Charles, Gideon Coe, Toshio Matsuura and Dom Servini.

An early lynchpin of the UK jazz scene in Manchester, Wickham has played with Matthew Halsall, Nightmares On Wax, Badly Drawn Boy, and Grand Central Records. Halsall guests on album track The Mirage. In 2017 Chip toured with both Matthew Halsall and Dwight Trible and his previous credits include Craig Charles Fantasy Funk Band, The New Mastersounds, The Pharcyde, and Roy Ayers