Record Reviews

EABS MEETS JAUBI ~ IN SEARCH OF A BETTER TOMORROW ASTIGMATIC 024 ~ POLAND ~ Jazz-World Fusion Recorded: 2022 Released: 2023 This is an album documenting the musical meeting between the Polish Jazz ensemble EABSFind albums by this artist and the Pakistani World Music ensemble JaubiFind albums by this artist, which is not the first encounter between the two, but the first full-fledged common recording as an octet. EABS comprises of keyboardist Marek PedziwiatrFind albums by this artist, trumpeter Jakub KurekFind albums by this artist, saxophonist Olaf WegierFind albums by this artist, bassist Pawel StachowiakFind albums by this artist and drummer Marcin RakFind albums by this artist. Jaubi consists of guitarist Ali Riaz BaqarFind albums by this artist, tabla player Kashif Ali DhaniFind albums by this artist and sarangi player Zohaib Hassan KhanFind albums by this artist. The album presents ten relatively short original compositions, three each by Baqar and Pedziwiatr, two by Stachowiak and one each by Kurek and Khan. The music was recorded at the Monochrom Studio and engineered by the sound wizard Ignacy GruszeckiFind albums by this artist, with the usual spectacular results. The music is nothing short of spectacular, a perfect match of EABS Funky Jazz and the oriental rhythms from thousands of kilometers away, which merge perfectly into a danceable, bottom shaking orgy of sounds and rhythms, which is unstoppable. EABS have perfected their unique amalgam of great melody lines and Groove, spiced with fiery soloing and heartfelt improvisations. The addition of the Pakistani elements spiced up the mixture, but did not change the essence, blending together effortlessly and dreamily. Of course the concept is not entirely new and at times my reaction to this music reminds me my blood pressure rising, when I heard “Indo-Jazz Fusions” for the first time in the late 1960s, which I hope will be taken as a compliment. The true measure of a successful merging of multi-cultural music is the level of inseparability of the various elements, which means that they often cannot be even precisely pointed out / distinguished from each other. Overall, this is another great album by EABS, which by now established itself as a stable (perhaps a bit too stable) creator of highly polished, elegant and still fascinating music, this time even more so with the help of the exotic external contributors. As to the “search of a better tomorrow”, at my age I am a bit doubtful about the outcome… As usual, well done Gentlemen!

Updated: 27/05/2023Posted: 27/05/2023

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JAUBI ~ NAFS AT PEACE ASTIGMATIC 017 ~ PAKISTAN ~ Jazz-World Fusion Recorded: 2019 Released: 2021 This is an album by Pakistani Jazz-World Fusion quartet JaubiFind albums by this artist, which consists of guitarist Ali Riaz BaqarFind albums by this artist, sarangi player Zohaib Hassan KhanFind albums by this artist, drummer Qammar AbbasFind albums by this artist and tabla player Kashif Ali DhaniFind albums by this artist. The quartet is expanded to a sextet with the addition of Polish Jazz keyboardist Marek PedziwiatrFind albums by this artist (a.k.a. LatarnikFind albums by this artist), a member of Polish ensembles EABSFind albums by this artist and BlotoFind albums by this artist, and British flautist / saxophonist Edward CawthorneFind albums by this artist (a.k.a. TenderloniousFind albums by this artist), who also recorded with EABS. The album presents seven tracks recorded in Lahore, six composed by Baqar and one by Pedziwiatr. Some additional recordings were done in Oslo, involving the Vox Humana Chamber ChoirFind albums by this artist, which appears on the opening track. The music is, as expected, an amalgam of traditional Indian Music elements and Jazz, which of course has its origins back as far as mid-1960s, both in American Jazz (John ColtraneFind albums by this artist of course, but not only) and British Jazz (John MayerFind albums by this artist and others) and European Jazz. The music created by the expanded Jaubi ensemble is similar in some ways to the many earlier attempts, but is also unique, being far more open to listeners, who have little experience with Indian music, as well as younger listeners, who prefer more melodic, accessible, somewhat trance-like auras, which do not involve heavy, complex improvisation, and offers instead a natural melodic flow. This does not mean that the album does not offer splendid soloing, which it certainly does. Both Pedziwiatr and Cawthorne offer some impressive soloing, especially on the final track dedicated to Coltrane and obviously inspired by “A Love Supreme”. Since the original Jaubi quartet involves only two traditional Indian instruments (sarangi and tabla), a priori their sound is not dominated by traditional Indian Music, which can be pretty daunting to Western listeners, and as this album perfectly shows, same like using exotic spices in food, moderation is the wiser solution. The album’s artwork and promo materials offer many references to the spiritual / religious references of this music, namely to the Koran spirituality and the concept of Nafs (from nafas), which became popular in the West with the growing popularity of the New Age in the late 20th Century. Personally I prefer to hide behind my skepticism, as this music is way more appropriate to enjoy and have fun rather than meditation or contemplation of one’s state of their soul. Oh well… Overall this is a wonderful album, extremely listenable and with the delicate smell of mystique and Indian spices, offers a superb musical trip, which is a pleasure to listen to. Well put together and offering some great melodic compositions as well as superb performances, this album is truly addictive. Not to be taken too seriously of course, just relax and flow with the music wherever it takes you – satisfaction guaranteed!

Updated: 01/07/2021Posted: 01/07/2021

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