BINKER AND MOSES:
JOURNEY TO THE MOUNTAIN OF FOREVER:
GEARBOX RECORDS:
LP/CD/DD:
OUT NOW:
From the moment you clap eyes on the trippily earthly artwork and the fact this is a double album from the much-touted Moses Boyd and Binker Golding on the trustworthy Gearbox imprint, you realise that Journey to the Mountain of Forever has the potential to be a special record.
And it is.
Borne out of the legacy of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman and Sun Ra's most expressive works - Bitches Brew being an obvious counterpoint for much of this sprawling double, with sax replacing trumpet - Journey, Binker and Moses' second album, is a relentless travelogue through powerful sampleable real-beats and expressive explorative saxophone passages that conjure up the yesteryear of '50s jazz-clubs, Philly and NYC sidewalk buskers in the '60s, the Quinn Martin '70s TV detective staples of Kojak and Streets of San Francisco, chunks of '90s Mo Wax downbeats and tomorrow's jazz luminaries like Sons of Kemet or GoGo Penguin.
Thankfully devoid of tiresome show-off solo passages, this is all about Binker and Moses playing off each other in seemless harmony, as though their lives depend on it. The neat little motifs on Intoxication From The Jahamonishi Leaves and Fete By The River sound like Afrique and urbane hip-hop enjoying an impromptu carnival together, irrepressibly joined at the hip by naggingly insistent drumming from the man Moses.
Of course calling Binker and Moses 'unknowns' is glib - the pair have polished off a MOBO for Best Jazz Act and a handful of breakthrough accolades and rightly so. But as far as the mainstream goes, they're not on point. As far as being at the forefront of talented nu-jazz/new-jazz or whatever, this pair have what it takes.
What makes a great album is variety and from the album's propulsive and anarchic openers come the likes of the sun-drenched Leaving The Now Behind and the woozy Gifts From the Vibrations of Light, before the epic tabla-infused At The Feet Of The Mountain Of Forever lays the album to rest with a myriad of percussive touches and otherworldy atmospherics.
Someday, all future-jazz will be benchmarked and measured by this album.
9/10
JOURNEY TO THE MOUNTAIN OF FOREVER:
GEARBOX RECORDS:
LP/CD/DD:
OUT NOW:
And it is.
Borne out of the legacy of John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Ornette Coleman and Sun Ra's most expressive works - Bitches Brew being an obvious counterpoint for much of this sprawling double, with sax replacing trumpet - Journey, Binker and Moses' second album, is a relentless travelogue through powerful sampleable real-beats and expressive explorative saxophone passages that conjure up the yesteryear of '50s jazz-clubs, Philly and NYC sidewalk buskers in the '60s, the Quinn Martin '70s TV detective staples of Kojak and Streets of San Francisco, chunks of '90s Mo Wax downbeats and tomorrow's jazz luminaries like Sons of Kemet or GoGo Penguin.
Thankfully devoid of tiresome show-off solo passages, this is all about Binker and Moses playing off each other in seemless harmony, as though their lives depend on it. The neat little motifs on Intoxication From The Jahamonishi Leaves and Fete By The River sound like Afrique and urbane hip-hop enjoying an impromptu carnival together, irrepressibly joined at the hip by naggingly insistent drumming from the man Moses.
Of course calling Binker and Moses 'unknowns' is glib - the pair have polished off a MOBO for Best Jazz Act and a handful of breakthrough accolades and rightly so. But as far as the mainstream goes, they're not on point. As far as being at the forefront of talented nu-jazz/new-jazz or whatever, this pair have what it takes.
What makes a great album is variety and from the album's propulsive and anarchic openers come the likes of the sun-drenched Leaving The Now Behind and the woozy Gifts From the Vibrations of Light, before the epic tabla-infused At The Feet Of The Mountain Of Forever lays the album to rest with a myriad of percussive touches and otherworldy atmospherics.
Someday, all future-jazz will be benchmarked and measured by this album.
9/10