The Boxer Rebellion Open Arms

Ben LaMar Gay's Open Arms To Open Us was produced and recorded at International Anthem Studios in Chicago between March and June of 2021. Across sixteen tracks Gay fluently interweaves jazz, blues, ballads, R&B, raga, new music, nursery rhyme, tropicalia, two-step, hip-hop and beyond in a beaming expression of his signature omni-genre “Pan-Americana” brew. Alongside his own sizable toolkit of instruments (cornet, keyboards, synthesizers, flutes, percussions), Gay surrounds himself with steady bandmates (including Tommaso Moretti on drums, Matthew Davis on tuba, and Rob Frye on woodwinds), while also shining the spotlight on female artists from his cast of regular collaborators.

cult of youth began as a bedroom project in 2006 when founder sean ragon took a broken acoustic guitar, a $20 mackie mixer, and a roland rack synth and tried to recreate the atmosphere of the post-industrial and neo folk records he had been obsessed with since childhood. the project eventually evolved into a fully fledged band and for the better part of a decade released a string of genre-bending albums that made perfect sense to some people and absolutely no sense to others.

Unique in Europe: Under the artistic direction of the Austrian guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel, six and nine jazz musicians, who were selected by a specialist jury for the Focusyear in the Jazzcampus Basel from applications submitted worldwide, meet to spend a whole year together with the Focusyear with a scholarship to devote the band intensively to the music.

This double album is devoted to the exceptional match between African-American musicians and boxers who all packed a punch in carrying the hopes of their people. Selected by Monique Pouget and Jean Buzelin from material that has all the passion of the ring, these emblematic pieces evoke a people’s admiration for its champions… with some unexpected bouts with fighters who were heroes. A bonus is the tribute paid to the exboxers who shelved their gloves before going on to vibrate, body and soul, and with great talent, in the arena of blues and jazz.