Outer Worlds Jazz Ensemble - The Kármán Line

We are very chuffed to have the brand new release on one of the hottest UK jazz labels of recent years ATA Records. Pigeonholing them as a jazz label is an injustice actually but organic spiritual jazz sounds is what they are getting world wide recognition for. And so its only right it will be given significant turntable time in our Lisbon store when it arrives Friday May 1st.

The music across this record is deep, spiritual and groove-driven, but the moods are varied. On Kármán Cantala and All Is Chip’s flute floats and soars, propelled by dreamlike harp and waves of impressionistic piano. Low Orbit takes things in a funkier direction, with Steve Parry’s horn arrangements (including the unusual instrumentation of bassoon, French horn and tuba) channelling early 70’s Quincy Jones and the loping swagger of Archie Shepp’s Mama Too Tight. The core quartet recorded live, but the overdubs of woodwinds and brass, harp and percussion shaped the album into something more rarified.

The tracks Celestial Matari and Molecules recall the flowing, cosmic sounds of Joe Henderson and Alice Coltrane’s masterpiece The Elements and the afrocentric work of Idris Ackamoor can be heard as Sam Hobbs moves from drum kit to balafon Earthly Elements gets earthy indeed. Driven by a heavy, dance-floor bass line and an array of percussion, Chips flute gets huskier, dirtier and more insistent, drawing deep from Yusef Lateef’s Psychicemotus and Roland Kirk’s Blacknuss. The spirit of David Axelrod permeates each of these tracks. The music’s flirtation with funk, relationship with the backbeat and quasi-baroque orchestration all bear his sonic fingerprints.

The Kármán Line honours these musical demigods without pastiche or sycophancy. Each track is a channeling of the spirits and a testament to the devotion, vision and skill of the musical community in the North of England. Please welcome the Outer Worlds Jazz Ensemble.

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