Emanative - Earth (JAZZMAN RECORDS June 19, 2018)

Led by drummer and producer Nick Woodmansey, Emanative have created a cosmic strand of multi-cultural UK jazz with African, Indian and Middle Eastern influences unlike any other act on the UK scene. Following on from their previous record on Gilles Peterson's Brownswood label back in 2015, Earth celebrates the diverse backgrounds of it’s galaxy of contributors, which includes Idris Ackamoor of US spiritual jazz legends The Pyramids, Afrobeat legend Dele Sosimi (previously of Fela Kuti’s Africa 80), key protagonist from Manchester's jazz scene Nat Birchall, India-raised Ninja Tune artist and Shabaka Hutchings-collaborator Sarathy Korwar, Ibibio Sound Machine player Ben Hadwen, Benjamin Page from RocketNumberNine, The Heliocentrics’ Malcolm Catto and Flying Lotus collaborator Ahu. 

Initially Emanative was an output for Woodmansey’s more beat-led productions which he began releasing in 2008. Over the course of a decade and a multitude of singles and three full-length albums, the project has morphed – emanated – into a collaborative, jazz-influenced, outward-facing globally-inspired collective. 2015’s The Light Years of the Darkness album release was a key turning point and a record that saw Woodmansey work with a stellar cast of contributors featuring amongst others Keiran Hebden aka Four Tet and trumpeter Ahmed Abdullah. All profits went to the Steve Reid Foundation, a charity which Gilles Peterson set up of which Woodmansey is a trustee – all in the name of the legendary jazz-drummer to help musicians in crisis as well as to support new talent. 

Born in 1975 and growing up in Sussex, music was part of Nick’s life from an early age as his dad Mick ('Woody') Woodmansey was the drummer with Bowie’s Spiders from Mars. His father instilled in him a life-long passion in drums, teaching him the basics. Plans to go to art college were shelved after he moved to London in 1991, squatting in Dalston, and esconsing himself in the London music scene. A few years later Woodmansey took a 12-month gig playing drums on a cruise ship, before returning to the UK and spending the next decade playing on the London scene in various projects whilst raising a family – it was there he decided to go it alone and so in 2006 Emanative was official. 

The Earth record encouraged Nick to delve deeper into his spirituality: “When you work with guys like Ahmed and Idris (Ackamoor), spiritual people, their vibe, attitude rubs off on you”, he opines. “I’m not religious but I an very spiritual: my perspective on life is less materialistic, more humanitarian. It’s important to see both the negative and the positive in life – but a spiritual perspective is inherently positive – you look for the good in things”. Nick’s spirituality is intertwined with his musicianship yet he is quick to point out that “the rest of the band are not necessarily on the same planet as me!” 

“I remember reading something Sun Ra said that has stuck with me. For most cultures and tribes music is not about the technical quality but it’s about expression, communication and the joy of playing. For me it’s about the vibe rather than technical perfection - if it sounds good, it is good". 

1. Dawn Child (Sunrise)

2. Heaven's Mirror feat. Idris Ackamoor & David Molina

3. Ìyáàmi feat. Dele Sosimi

4. Spice Routes feat. Nat Birchall

5. Sandhyavandanam

6. Egosystem (Solar Noon)

7. Reflection feat. Nat Birchall & Liz Elensky

8. New Day feat. Ahu

9. Heaven's Mirror (Reprise)

10. Minute's To Midnight For This Planet

11. Raga Requiem (Dusk)

Nat Birchall - Cosmic Language (JAZZMAN RECORDS 2018)

Cosmic Language sees the UK-based saxophonist, composer and arranger return to Jazzman Records with a cross-cultural approach: an exploration of the parallel musical paths of jazz and Indian ragas. Here he takes influence from spiritual jazz forebears such as Alice Coltrane and Yusef Lateef and introduces the Indian harmonium to his band, where it takes the place of the piano. Making new connections to realise his transcendental ambitions, it's a logical next step in making music as spiritual cleanser. 

The idea for the album was spawned from a one-off performance at a meditation centre, the Maharishi Golden Dome in West Lancashire. Seeking to bring a band set-up that was fitting to the quiet-minded setting, Birchall brought the harmonium with him. A small pump organ, it's an instrument he'd been in possession of for many years but hadn't previously used in his music. Building on the spiritual context of that show, and the associations of that instrument, it led naturally to the musical approach undertaken on the album. 

Both the album and the show which preceded it were recorded with the same tight-knit group of players which have featured on Birchall's previous albums. All members of the group are part of the same like minded circle of Manchester-oriented jazz musicians, sharing stages and acquaintances with the likes of Matthew Halsall (a longtime collaborator with Birchall) and GoGo Penguin. 

Birchall has always channeled wide-ranging ideas into music that's simple to understand, and this album is no exception. Album opener 'Man From Varanasi' is an ode to Bismillah Khan, one of Birchall's heroes of Indian music who hailed from the northern Indian city named in the title. It also sees him taking cues from the Indian raga tradition which, as with most other traditional Indian music, is a foundation which underpinned Khan's music. 

Crucially, the ragas tap into the idea of of music as a means of spiritual release. As Birchall explains, The whole act of making music is a spiritual experience. It's during performance and when playing music that I look for a kind of truth. It's with music where I find myself feel closest to attaining that 'enlightened' kind of feeling. On rare occasions I've actually felt as though I was listening to the music being played rather than being involved in making it, almost like an out-of-body experience. 

This natural feeling comes from Birchall's attitude toward jazz music. He sees it as an essential part of day-to-day life: instead of brightly-lit, occasional entertainment in lugubrious concert halls, he considers it an everyday, vital source of inspiration. At a moment where jazz-influenced music is undergoing creative renewal and wider appreciation, it's an important perspective that's found resonance elsewhere. His experiences and the world around him are filtered through his music, and he looks to have his music – be it live or on record – absorbed in the same quotidian way. To me, it's an integral part of society, an everyday thing, he says. You should hear the music every day. 

1. Man From Varanasi

2. Humility

3. A Prayer For

4. Dervish

Bass – Michael Bardon

Drums, Percussion – Andy Hay

Harmonium – Adam Fairhall

Tenor Saxophone, Percussion – Nat Birchall

Various Artists - Spiritual Jazz 8: Japan pt. 1 (JAZZMAN RECORDS 2018)

Our latest examination of Esoteric, Modal & Progressive Jazz of the 20th Century has taken us to Japan. The liberating force of jazz has been created and felt all around the world, but few nations on earth embraced the jazz message with the passion and intensity of Japan. From the dawn of the jazz age to the present day, Japanese audiences have been renowned tastemakers, enthusiasts and champions of the music – in the 1980s, Japan was the biggest per capita market in the world for jazz records, and it has even been said that Japanese jazz fans kept the jazz record industry alive through the lean years of the 1970s, when the music fell from commercial favour in the land of its birth.

But while the jazz aficionados of Japan are celebrated as sophisticated fans and consumers of the music, comparatively little is known outside Japan of the remarkable and abundant music produced by generations of Japanese jazz musicians. Numerous Japanese jazzers have found enormous success on the international stage – Toshiko Akiyoshi, Sadao Watanabe, Teramasu Hino, and many others are household names among jazz listeners all over the world, and with good reason. But if such global figures are put aside, the stunning heritage of Japanese jazz remains poorly understood outside Japan. As a result, the work of many celebrated Japanese jazumen has remained largely unknown to international audiences, and the extraordinary scope and depth of Japanese jazz has not been widely recognised. 

Compiled for the Spiritual Jazz series in collaboration with the celebrated collector and DJ Yusuke Ogawa (Deep Jazz Reality, Tokyo), this 2CD/twin set of double LPs aims to correct that omission by uncovering the uniquely deep sound of esoteric, modal and progressive jazz from Japan – music of the heart, soul and Japanese spirit! 

Our extensive liner notes extend onto printed inners, and are in both Japanese and English.

1. Mitsuaki Kanno - Kumo No Ito

2. Tadao Hayashi - My Favorite Things

3. Minoru Muraoka - Positive and Negative

4. Takeo Moriyama - East Plants

5. Koichi Matsukaze - Under Construction

6. Sadao Watanebe & Charlie Mariano - Ragam Sinthubairavi

7. Shungo Sawada - Footprint

8. New Direction for the Arts - Sun in the East

Various Artists - Spiritual Jazz 8: Japan pt. 2 (JAZZMAN RECORDS 2018)

Our latest examination of Esoteric, Modal & Progressive Jazz of the 20th Century has taken us to Japan. The liberating force of jazz has been created and felt all around the world, but few nations on earth embraced the jazz message with the passion and intensity of Japan. From the dawn of the jazz age to the present day, Japanese audiences have been renowned tastemakers, enthusiasts and champions of the music – in the 1980s, Japan was the biggest per capita market in the world for jazz records, and it has even been said that Japanese jazz fans kept the jazz record industry alive through the lean years of the 1970s, when the music fell from commercial favour in the land of its birth. 

But while the jazz aficionados of Japan are celebrated as sophisticated fans and consumers of the music, comparatively little is known outside Japan of the remarkable and abundant music produced by generations of Japanese jazz musicians. Numerous Japanese jazzers have found enormous success on the international stage – Toshiko Akiyoshi, Sadao Watanabe, Teramasu Hino, and many others are household names among jazz listeners all over the world, and with good reason. But if such global figures are put aside, the stunning heritage of Japanese jazz remains poorly understood outside Japan. As a result, the work of many celebrated Japanese jazumen has remained largely unknown to international audiences, and the extraordinary scope and depth of Japanese jazz has not been widely recognised. 

Compiled for the Spiritual Jazz series in collaboration with the celebrated collector and DJ Yusuke Ogawa (Deep Jazz Reality, Tokyo), this 2CD/twin set of double LPs aims to correct that omission by uncovering the uniquely deep sound of esoteric, modal and progressive jazz from Japan – music of the heart, soul and Japanese spirit! 

Each 2LP set comes complete with OBI strip and thick, textured sleeve. Our extensive liner notes extend onto printed inners, and are in both Japanese and English.

1. Four Units - Scarborough Fair

2. Tohru Aizawa - Sacrament

3. Keitaro Miho - Kikazaru

4. Tee & Company - Spanish Flower

5. Takeo Moriyama - Watarase

6. Kiyoshi Sugimoto - Babylonia Wind

7. Toshiko Akiyoshi - Kisarazu Zinku

8. Yoshio Ikeda - Whispering Weeds