|
STRAIGHT
NO CHASER, Summer 2003, p.69
The view
that I encountered amongst some 'heads' when
I said I'd be presenting a show of contemporary jazz was one of thinly
veiled scepticism," explains Kevin Le Gendre regarding his recently
pulled BBC London show 'Now's The Time'. This superb compilation
released by avid listener and label owner Zeljko Kerleta is testament
to Le Gendre's vision - a celebration of contemporary music
reverberating with the vibrations which form what Max Roach termed our
'Universe of Sound'. Opening with Charles Brackeen's modern day
spiritual 'Attainment', the album travels from the eastern modalism of
Omar Avital's 'Marakesh' and the Egyptian improvisation of Kadash &
The Nile Troup's 'Elil' through to the devotional jazz poetry of Omar
Sossa's 'Eleggua' and the subterranean jazz funk of 'Spin Marvel'. Very
deep and very essential. ANDY THOMAS
- also check the 'Undercurrents' at page 23 for the
article on Kevin
LeGendre
MAT HEYWOOD @ Somethin' Else
A Unique modern jazz compilation.This deserves maximum
support espec. on top of those great eastern block compilations.
TOM
WIELAND @ Les Gammas / Panoptikum, Austria
..Excellent deep selection! one for the old school
couch jazz headz...and good coverdesign,too.
MARK
'XANGO' @ 'Satelliet', Netherlands
Some
people master the skill of seeking raspberries
better than anyone else. Kevin LeGendre is one such person. My
goodness, what fine and deep oriental jazzcolours he compiled. Most of
the tracks are not to be found by ordinary people, so we're grateful.
Thanx to Kevin for 2 years of 'Now's the time'.This is a pretty gift
for all music lovers around. Let's hope it's not his last one. My
favourite tracks: Burhan Ocal ft. Jamaaladdeen Tacuma and Kadash with
his Nile Troup.
ROCCO
PANDIANI @ Right Tempo, Italy
You really got me with this one!!!!!!!
DAVID
BASSIN @ FreeFall, San Francisco
Kevin
LeGendre - the host of the BBC London radio
program collects some of the show's highlights and what highlights they
are! Jazz from around the globe representing some of the genre's most
innovative artists working in a myriad of styles. Sounds of Africa, the
Middle East, Jamaica and Eastern Europe are given breathtaking
arrangements by Charles Brackeen, Omar Sosa, Tied & Tickled Trio,
Peter Apfelbaum and Kadash & The Nile Troup, to name a few. Kudos
to Cosmic Sounds for yet another outstanding release.
ENNIO
STYLES @ Stylin, Australia
This is
heavyweight powerful music. I've been curious
about Kevin Le Gendre ever since I heard about his show. I could never
check it out because I was always at work at the time it was on. Now I
can't check it out at all. So thanks for putting the compilation out
because I don't know how I would have heard this music otherwise. Kevin
obviously has a unique ear and I'm sure that finding these tunes was a
lot of work (there's a lot of really bad contemporary jazz to wade
through). The liner notes comment "It's not Nu Jazz even though it's
new jazz" really sums it up. "Marrakesh" by the Omar Avital Group is
particularly breathtaking.
DUSTY
GROOVE
One of
the most striking albums on the always-striking
Cosmic Sounds label -- a rich collection of contemporary jazz tracks,
showing the underground spirit of the 70s is alive and well! The tunes
on this set are of recent origin, but many of them feel like they could
have been lifted off of some of our favorite compilations of older
tunes -- mixing jazz and world music influences, like some of the best
sets on the Soul Jazz label, or some of the excellent Shibuya Jazz
Classics series. The material is compiled by Kevin LeGendre in memory
of his similarly titled show on the BBC, which presented work in a
similar vein -- and the scope of the music is a bracing reminder of the
persistence of creative energy in jazz!
CHRISSIE MURRAY
SIMPLY COSMIC… The loss of Kevin LeGendre’s Now’s The
Time show on BBC London is another diminishing blow to jazz on radio.
Kevin has kept alive, with an engaging passion, a seriously neglected
area of the music, constantly reminding us of the debt we owe so many
overlooked African-American freeform and World pioneers stretching back
to the Sixties and Seventies. Now some of Kevin’s priceless collection
is set out in the Now’s The Time compilation on the enterprising Cosmic
Sounds label. So many favourites here… bassist Omar Avital’s swirling
Middle-Eastern big-band bash (Marakesh), that undersung American
saxophonist Charles Brackeen (the uplifting Attainment), UK drummer
Martin France’s dubbed-out Überfunk of Spin Marvel and the
exciting collision of bassist Jamaladeen Tacuma and Burhan Orcal (Two
By Two). As Kevin suggests: ‘Maybe now’s the time for the "rhythms of
resistance"…’. Amen.
NIK WESTON @ Mukatsuku Pr
Going deeper then a Jacques Coustau film crew!!
JON FREER
BBC London may have pulled Kevin LeGendre's "Now's The
Time" radio show, but the enchanting music lives on, as this selection
shows. Bringing in wide-ranging talent from around the world, the Jazz
musicians here show the influence of many styles of music on their
productions. The Charles Bracken Quartet's "Attainment" is a much
needed call for peace and understanding, over a versatile elastified
bass, knocking percussion and emotive afro-sax. "Pumpkin's Delight" by
Azilut, is a macabre celebration of Halloween, with a brooding
clarinet, sprinting jumped-up drums and a dancing sax that has
screaming tendencies. Burhan Orcal and Jamaladeen Tacuma's "Two By Two"
is a minimalistic percussive frenzy, where a thinly laced thinking
guitar rides alongside emphatic tribal drumming, moving shakers and a
fluid bass. This is an inventive and challenging selection from around
the world, which blows away peoples preconceptions of Jazz as a
conservative motionless genre.
JOHN L WATERS / Guardian 9 May
2003, page 21
Now's The
Time takes you into the fertile mind of
Kevin LeGendre, whose short-lived BBC radio programme demonstrated his
ear for the wilder, looser fringes of jazz fusion. It sounds great at
night, driving back from a gig or a late shift. Someone should give him
another show.
RICHARD
E. (Solar Apple Quarktette / Further Out recordings)
Something solid to remember
Kevin's sadly defunct 'Now's The Time' radio show by. A properly
interesting selection that really does dig deeper than the average
"jazz" comp. Great sounds, great packaging.
FUNSHO OGUNDIPE(Lagos, Nigeria)
got in Mr LeGendre through his
writing. then one night i caught part of his show and it was what i
expected. this cd is one cosmic sound!!!
SHAMAN SEAY
Amazing collection, buy it now and hear the new sound!
PLAYLISTS:
SOMETHIN' ELSE @ BBC3 on
their Top Ten @ Jazzwise, May 2003, p14.
RAGGY's 'Off Limits' @ Solar Radio Martin France - Spin Marvel
Dj BEN G @ Right On FM The
Omer Avital Group - Marrakesh
DAVID BASSIN @ FreeFall Charles
Brackeen Quartet - Attainment + The Omer
Avital Group - Marrakesh
JAZZMATE @ Leftofcentre The Omer Avital
Group - Marrakesh
MARK 'XANGO' @ 'Satelliet', Netherlands
Burhan Ocal ft. Jamaaladdeen Tacuma - 2 By 2 +
The Omer Avital Group - Marrakesh + Omar
Sosa - Elegguá
CIAN Ó CÍOBHÁIN @ An Taobh
Tuathail The Omer Avital Group - Marrakesh + Tied & Tickled Trio - Van Brunt/Van Ness + Azilut - Pumpkin's Delight + Peter Apfelbaum - Long Road/Motherless Child
DJ KEYSER @ Tilos Radio Omar Sosa -
Elegguá
GILLES PETERSON @ Worldwide Charles Brackeen
Quartet - Attainment
ROCKY
ROCOCO @ jazzadelica Charles Brackeen
Quartet - Attainment
|
