In the music industry, time moves ten times faster. There is no pause given to greatness, and legends can vanish amidst the churn of the hit parade. It is no minor miracle, then, that in the face of a deadly pandemic and faltering supply chain, Jazz Is Dead has returned with another offering of top-shelf recordings, paying tribute to past legends and new school torchbearers alike. Whether you’ve known the names of Jazz Is Dead Series 2’s featured guests, or are just meeting them for the first time, prepare to be blown away.
During his lifetime, pianist and composer Hasaan Ibn Ali (1931-1980) was a jazz enigma. The Philly musician practiced with John Coltrane during the early '50s and is credited as the primary influence on the saxophonist's "sheets of sound" harmonic approach first articulated on Giant Steps - a sound that exploded across his Impulse! work. Metaphysics: The Lost Atlantic Album is a genuine jazz holy grail, one of only two albums to feature the pianist's compositions and unique playing style. The first, The Max Roach Trio Featuring the Legendary Hasaan, was credited to Roach because it was the only way to get Atlantic's Nesuhi Ertegun to sign the pianist. Pleased, the label commissioned an album from Ibn Ali. Using bassist Art Davis, drummer Kalil Madi, and saxophonist Odean Pope, Ibn Ali completed the session…
Over the last 12 months, Adrian Younge and A Tribe Called Quest member Ali Shaheed Muhammad have been inviting some legendary musicians to swing by the former’s Los Angeles studio to make fresh tracks with vintage equipment. The results are detailed on “Jazz Is Dead”, a superb album that combines elements of dusty soundtrack jazz, soul, jazz-funk, Latin jazz and head-nodding live beats influenced by the duo’s hip-hop roots. Highlights include the atmospheric, slow-motion warmth of Roy Ayers collaboration “Hey Lover”, the floor-rocking fusion heaviness of epic Azymuth hook-up “Apocaliptico”, the languid sweetness of ‘Down Deep” (featuring Doug Carn) and the samba-soaked sunshine that is Marcos Valle composition “Nao Saia Da Praca”.
In February 2018, Roy Ayers performed four sold out shows in Los Angeles as part of the Jazz Is Dead Black History Month series. It wasn’t until 2020 that fans of Ayers discovered that in addition to those shows, the legendary vibraphone player had also recorded an entire album of new material with Adrian Younge and Ali Shaheed Muhammad.
Marcos and the other Brazilian luminaries Adrian and Ali hosted for Jazz Is Dead, are able to create an entirely different sound and feel using the exact same palette.
The instrumental trio Azymuth modernized the sound and style of Brazilian jazz with their electronic instruments, angular arrangements and ingenious synthesis of jazz, funk, rock and samba. After the passing of founding keyboard player José Roberto Bertrami in 2012, Alex Malheiros (bass) and Ivan “Mamão” Conti (drums) recruited synthesizer samurai Kiko Continentinho to the trio as it continued to build on their sound, now in their fifth decade of pushing the boundaries of their beloved samba.
Ali Farka Toure and Toumani Diabate come across like the Odd Couple of Malian music. Toure is the tall, bespectacled veteran with the long fingers and a wide grin, looking very relaxed as he settles down to play a loping riff on his acoustic guitar. Diabate is younger, shorter, more intense, arranging himself in front of his kora, the ancient, multi-stringed west African harp. When you see him on video, you can’t quite believe just how quickly his fingers dance around all those strings.