Quite a number of modern jazz trumpet players are adding various tonalities from different musical styles as well as from different parts of the world. Jon Hassel, Norwegians Niels Petter Molvaer and Are Henriksen and recently American trumpet player Justin Walter came up with what a could be categorized as an excellent World jazz album Unseen Forces. Let us not forget Ibrahim Malouf, whose specially designed trumpet and often Eastern-tinged stylings brought him to the top of the list of current jazz (and other music) trumpet players.
Well, now we can add another name to the list. Yazz Ahmed might not be that known to wider audiences, but some renowned artists certainly do, since she has worked with the likes of Radiohead, Lee “Scratch” Perry and jazzers like Courtney Pine. She came up with an interesting concept when releasing her new album La Sabouteuse (The Saboteur) - it came down trickling to the listeners in four parts, or chapters - The Space Between The Fish & The Moon (Chapter One), The Shoal of Souls (Chapter Two), Spindrifting (Chapter Three), Sarabandes and Nocturnes (Chapter Four).
In a way, it is a sabotaging concept - you can try to digest one of the four thematic units, or you can take the whole concept in one go. And you won’t go wrong either way. Ahmed shows exactly why she has been in vogue with other accomplished artists - with her British and Bahrein roots showing, she has a complete grasp of jazz, Western classical music, but spices everything with the sounds of the Middle East. What is most important, she infuses everything she does with flair and innovation, without any musical style taking over and dominating, but creating a fusion (in the real sense of that word, not ‘who can play faster’ sense it acquired) of musical flavors and showing that she has exceptional compositional skills.
And she is a fantastic trumpet player to boot. If strict comparisons are in order, her sound is more akin to Molvaer than Malouf, but is neither. Whatever it is, it sounds great. I tried listening to the album both ways - in four thematic units and as a whole. Personally, makes no difference. If Ahmed had a fear that her listeners would get bored, she shouldn’t have. This is one of the best jazz releases of the year so far. The World or otherwise.
