Bah Samba

Above - the soulful vocals of Alice Russell.

In early 1996 Julian Bendall, Kevin Alexanda and Geoff Holroyd (the surnames of which make up the Bah) formed a loose group of naturally talented musicians to play live and maybe record a few songs whilst experimenting with the fusion of traditional musicianship, dance and modern recording techniques at Midi. The result becoming the early Bah Samba sound in the shape of 'Carnival' their debut single that was released on Loaded later the same year.

At this time the voice of a very young Alice Russell was heard floating over the garden wall and contact was made by knocking on the door to borrow a casserole dish. Alice's voice fitted perfectly with the direction that Bah Samba was taking and was first realised with 'Reach Inside' in early Spring of 1997. Featured on the Dimitri from Paris mix album in 2000 and named as his favourite band, it shows the longevity of the bands sound in an ever increasingly disposable scene.



Bah Samba - 4 (BKO Productions 2 x CD)


I picked this double CD in Faversham for a quid from the Cancer Research chazzer yesterday. 

What an amazing double album this CD from 2005 is. CD 1 is an uptempo latin,funk disco CD with a wicked cover of 'Portuguese Love' it also features the sought after Phil Asher mix. CD 2 is more chilled bossa/samba, beautiful songs with a song 'Morris' about a new born boy.Superb production, and an album I highly recommend.

I met Julian in Brighton twice when I use to imbibe at the Hampton Arms,and a very congenial fellow he is to talk to.

Spring Heel Jack Go Free Jazzing

Spring Heel Jack "Amassed" (Thirsty Ear CD 2002)




Spring Heel Jack is a project that was launched in 1994 by the duo of John Coxon, ex guitarist for Spiritualized and Ashley Wales, ex collaborator of Shock Headed Peters. The project pioneered the genre what was to be termed 'ambient jungle', a kind of melodic and atmospheric take on drum'n'bass fundamentals.

The project has thus far produced two masterpieces, Disappeared (2000) and Amassed (2002). The former brilliantly contrasts sonic expositions of Wagnerian intensity with romantic trumpet-led pieces. But its with the latter that the project really shine.

Featuring an all-star jazz line-up of Han Bennink (drums), Ed Coxon (violin), John Edwards (bass), Evan Parker (saxophone), Paul Rutherford (trombone), Matthew Shipp (piano) and Kenny Wheeler (trumpet), and adding the 'shoegazing' guitar of Jason Pierce (Spiritualized) to the proceedings, the duo composed eight mini-concertos straddling not one stylistic border but pretty much all possible borders.

The lead-off track 'Double Cross' is a hybrid of chamber music, bebop jazz and dissonant avant-garde that relegates harmony to imagination and rhythm to space. Soulful bass lines and cubistic trumpet balladry coexist to create a magical ambiance.

In 'Amassed' the jazz element of the sound is more prominent. Frantic drumming and petulant horns recall the atmosphere of a smoky mid-1960s Soho jazz club, replete with Albert Ayler's cacophonic bacchanals and liquid piano a` la Weather Report.

Funereal bells and martial chords open 'Wormwood'. A sense of tension is built by free notes that get increasingly darker and ever more distorted. The instruments join in a cacophonous symphony, which create a sound that merges the absurd cultivated by Pere Ubu with the jamming of Jimi Hendrix.

In 'Lit' a tender trumpet intones a theraputic psalm over a majestic organ melody which merges musique concrete and a moving piano. The pyschedelic sonic impulses are reminiscent of early Pink Floyd. The track constitutes the core of the album.

With 'Meroc', geometric sax overlays guitar distortion that recalls early Anthony Braxton, whilst '100 Years Before' is a lenghty fresco of abstract and lyrical chaos.

'Duel' is an exercise of surrealism in search of structure that takes a contorted route of primordial sax, minimalistic piano repetition and apocalyptic drumming.

The album closes with the mesmerizing 'Obscured' which is a culmination of the techniques, styles and ideas lavished on the previous seven tracks, with the addition of an 'earthly' soul and rock element. A steady rhythmic nine minute soul pattern overlays a jungle beat, while the instruments take shifts at howling their joyful desperation, thereby concocting one of the most exhilarating orgies in modern jazz.

Modern avant-garde improv jazz at its best.

Jack Jazz