Many European jazz enthusiasts have been unanimously asserting for years that the hottest point of this genre on the Old Continent is London. At the opening concert of the "Vilnius Mama Jazz" festival, the young, sharp, innovative, but not forgetting their roots ensemble "seed." and the trio "Ill Considered" will sound, arriving to demonstrate how colorful and incredibly strong the London scene is today.
seed. - new wave jazz
The collective combines the classics of the 60s with rebellious youth, the roots of the music of West Africa and the Caribbean with futuristic soundscapes, the sensations of the city bustle with the centuries-old history of Black England. The jazz performed by seed., formerly known as the Seed Ensemble, invites the community to come together and remember that this genre is not for elitists, but for people who are united by one thought, one idea and one experience.
Alto saxophonist and arranger Cassie Kinoshi, who completed composition studies at the Trinity Laban Conservatory of Music and Dance, is not only the leader of seed., but also a composer of contemporary dance, film, visual arts and theater. Her works have been performed at the Park Avenue Armory in New York, the National Theater in London, the Globe Theatre, the Ballet Boyz and the Southbank Arts Center in London. C. Kinoshi's works are played by such orchestras and ensembles as the London Symphony Orchestra, London Simfonietta, London Contemporary Orchestra, Manchester Camerata Orchestra.
Cassie has a strong interest in the audiovisual field, installations and mixed-genre ensemble performance. However, the most important developer, who in 2012 became a finalist of the "BBC Young Composer of the Year Award", the project is a group "seed.", which allows the artist to express herself not only musically, but also to express her position against the background of today's current affairs. And in this mission she is helped by more than one talented musician.
The largest group of ten members on the stage of this year's festival
Undoubtedly, the center of "seed." is C. Kinoshi, whose saxophone full of pain and joy drives this rich collective of talents forward. Saxophonist Deji Ijishakin, who combines jazz and drill music in his personal work, says that he looks at music as a scientific experiment, guitarist Shirley Tetteh has shared the stage with such artists as Moses Boyd, Gary Crosby, Nathaniel Facey and others, trombonist Joe Bristow had to play with such collectives such as Black Midi, Balimaya Project or the London Symphony Orchestra, and keyboardist Deschanel Gordon in 2020. won the BBC Young Jazz Musician Award. The group also includes tubaist Hanna Mbuya, who in her work finds the tuba through the prism of electronic and hip-hop music, drummer Patrick Boyle, who claims that a modern drummer is only as relevant as he is able to authentically and individually replicate other genres, bassist Rio Kai and trombonists Joseph Otis and Jack Banjo Courtney.
It is not without reason that the track "Afronaut (feat. XANA)" was recorded on seed.'s debut release "Driftglass", 2018. won the Ivors Academy Award (formerly known as the BASCA, British Composers Award) for Jazz Composition for Large Ensemble, and the album itself in 2019. was nominated for the prestigious Mercury Prize.
"Some of seed.'s music is unreconstructed afrobeat that is irresistible." But Driftglass became a much bigger picture. Kinoshi's work is based on what has happened in the past and what is happening now, but at its core the album is about herself. It's both joy and pain," All About Jazz reviewer Chris May said of the record.
Full of life, protest, historical memory and hope, this band's music inspires to strive for more in the everyday, which can sometimes seem gray and boring.
"Ill Considered" is one of London's hottest phenomena
A crazy cauldron of jazz is boiling in the capital of the United Kingdom, dissected by the River Thames, and there are a lot of brave and devilishly talented creators dictating jazz fashion for the whole world. One such is between improvisation, jazz, electronics and world the music-wielding Ill Considered.
The collective's creative backbone is improvisation and enjoying the present moment. Ill Considered's albums, which have been released over ten years, and in concerts, do not sound like carefully thought out compositions. Musicians constantly dive into the sound, hoping not to fulfill a pre-prepared plan, but rather to discover new creative angles and surprise not only themselves, but also the listeners. It fully reflects the name of the collective, which is used in English to describe a reckless action.
Ill Considered was formed in 2017. when drummer, producer and sound engineer Emre Ramazanoglu, who spends a lot of time behind the scenes, in the music studio working with such greats as Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher, pop star Katie Melua or ambient music classic Brian Eno, got the idea that it was time to take a break and to forge something close to the heart. Having met a couple of such soul mates - saxophonist, clarinetist and also music producer Idris Rahman and bassist Leon Brichard - Emrė did not miss the chance to get down together. In just 24 hours, the first impromptu play became the band's first album released under their self-founded label. Soon, the collective became very popular in the circles of Londoners who had heard and seen a lot, and soon they sailed beyond the borders of the British Archipelago.
A sound that transcends the British tradition
I. Rahman, born to an Irish-Indian family, and E. Ramazanoglu, of Turkish origin, bring with them a solid dowry of non-Western music treasures. In addition, Indian-West African-born percussionist Satin Singh often plays with the band, and recent recordings have featured tubist Theon Cross, saxophonist Ahnanse, percussionist Sarathy Korwar, and others. The group's main bassist is Lirano Donino, who plays in the well-known British modern jazz group Led Bib. Such a wide range of influences from the permanent members of Ill Considered and their friends creates an exceptionally groovy improvisation, which organically merges jazz, electronic music, afrobeat, funk and the musical heritage of the Middle East and India.
The band also has a unique album design. Each of their album covers is a piece of moderately colored abstract art by artist Vincent de Boer, who has become an integral part of Ill Considered. In his work, the predominant mixture of the ornately playful "art nouveau" and the more functionalistic "art deco" architectural directions conveys the content of the "Ill Considered" albums incredibly well, which is characterized by a skillfully maintained harmony between feeling and reason, between improvisation and structure.
The phenomenon of the London scene will come to "Vilnius Mama Jazz" after releasing the collective's new album "Precipice". Will we hear the latest compositions at the festival? Hardly bad. Ill Considered never plays what it's already played.
