Zara McFarlane - Arise -- LP 33 giri

TAS Super LP List! Special Merit: Informal

Head-Turning Third Album On Vinyl LP!

On Arise, Zara McFarlane returns to a buoyant UK jazz scene with a head-turning third album. Exploring the musical possibilities of British-Jamaican identity, it's a cultural exchange that's born of London's current musical climate. Released on Gilles Peterson's Brownswood Recordings, it sees her working with much-feted drummer and producer Moses Boyd. Both rose through London's Tomorrow's Warriors programme, a finishing school for many young vanguards of the live, ascendant jazz scene springing up across the UK capital. Sharing Caribbean family heritages, it's a product of their joint exploration of the meeting points between jazz and the rhythms of Jamaica; reggae, Kumina, calypso and nyabinghi, shaded with hints of the psychedelic.

The album features a stellar line up of some of the key players on the London scene: Moses Boyd on drums, Binker Golding on tenor sax, Peter Edwards on piano, Max Luther on double bass, Shirley Tetteh on guitar, Nathaniel Cross on trombone, Pete Eckford on percussion and an unusually restrained turn on clarinet from Shabaka Hutchings. Shared between all of them is a tendency to find the common points between different musical ilks: from US hard bop jazz, to dub and London-rooted hybrids and permutations, the band on Arise reflect the musical diversity of their home. Boosted by new platforms, like East London showcase Church of Sound and a newly-refreshed Jazz Café, the record surfs the momentum currently propelling jazz-influenced music in the UK.

Zara's music is seductive and earthy. As a performer she is uniquely engaging, deftly combining the intricacies of jazz with a deep soulfulness, melding multiple influences from reggae to pop, folk and blues with both her originals and choice of covers. Her breakthrough 2012 jazz cover of Junior Murvin's "Police and Thieves", provided a jumping off point to further explore the blurred, colourful territory in between jazz and roots-reggae. On Arise we see her continue to explore her Jamaican roots covering Nora Dean's "Peace Begins Within" and a beautifully poised version of the Congos' "Fisherman" teases out the poignant lyrical content of the 1977 classic. This time her originals have a socio-political lilt, inspired by the political reggae movement of '70s Jamaica, as well as her trademark compelling self-reflections and observations. The new album has been well received so much so that Zara has won a Jazz FM Award for 'Vocalist of the Year' 2018 and 'Session of the Year' 2018 Worldwide FM Award.

"Zara McFarlane has made another magnificent record that has surpassed even her breakthrough If You Knew Her and deserves to be the talk of the town - highly recommended." - All About Jazz

"This time, McFarlane and company reconfigure 'Peace Begins Within' into a driving, tightly controlled post-bop groove with the singer's upper register deployed in the chorus to dazzling effect, as moving here as it is in the Dean original. For the Congos' 'Fisherman,' accompanied primarily by only strings and piano, McFarlane proves that bass pressure isn't required to provide weight. It's somewhat ironic, then, that two of the album's finest originals -- burning perseverance anthems 'Fussin' and Fightin'' and 'Freedom Chain' -- are reggae to the core, translatable from an intimate hideout to a sound system. Other moments travel far afield from McFarlane's prior sessions. Not one of them is disposable. 'Silhouette' leads with almost four minutes of Shabaka Hutchings' bass clarinet wisps, with McFarlane arriving toward the end to substantively honor her cultural lineage. 'Allies or Enemies' is a quietly accosting fusion of scat singing, doo wop, and folk, while 'Stoke the Fire' -- the most illuminating evidence of the singer's versatility -- is an intricately layered soul-rock ballad of sorts." - AllMusic

Features:
• Vinyl LP

Musicians:
Zara McFarlane, vocals
Moses Boyd, drums
Binker Golding, tenor sax
Peter Edwards, piano
Max Luther, double bass
Shirley Tetteh, guitar
Nathaniel Cross, trombone
Pete Eckford, percussion
Shabaka Hutchings, clarinet

Selections:
1. Ode To Kumina
2. Pride
3. Fussin' And Fightin'
4. Peace Begins Within
5. Stoke The Fire
6. Freedom Chain
7. Allies Or Enemies
8. In Between Worlds
9. Silhouette (Feat. Shabaka Hutchings)
10. Fisherman
11. Ode To Cyril