London keyboardist Joe Armon-Jones plays a style of music that represents the galvanized British Jazz scene happening now. Dub, hip-hop, R&B, funk, and bass heavy UK club culture is presented through that keyhole of tradition. In advance of his upcoming sophomore album Turn To Clear View, coming in September, Jones doubles down with "Yellow Dandelion", a five-minute head-nodding swinger of a jam featuring Los Angeles vocalist and producer Georgia Anne Muldrow turning in a reserved, yet spirited vocal performance. Filling out the roster with Moses Boyd on drums, Nubya Garcia on tenor sax and Oscar Jerome on guitar, the song radiates with the ecstasy of being in this newfound Jazz place.
Muldrow opens up, blows and scats behind the looping heft and swing of a band cooking in a serious moment, while singing in code about how we as humans lack the tolerance for difference, using that flower as a pointed metaphor. Jones, meanwhile, displays his collection of talents by running through fusion, trad jazz, and future funk licks during a solo, two minutes in, that one can only envision as Herbie Hancock, Oscar Peterson, and J Dilla having a lively conversation. It HITS just like that.
Turn To Clear View, co-produced with longtime collaborator Maxwell Owin, will arrive September 20 via Brownswood Recordings.
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