4/6/2025
Continuing my deep dive into the spiritual jazz scene, today I delve into the young and promising London scene, basically the locus amoenus of modern jazz. The first thing that impressed me about 'Polyhymnia' by Yazz Ahmed is the record's background: the album was commissioned for International Women's Day in 2015 and took an astounding five years to be published, no wonder the production is flawless. Ahmed's amazing trumpet blends with Alcyona Mick's piano, resulting in a dynamic entente. This is quite notable in what, in my opinion, is the greatest track on the record, 'Ruby Bridges', a groovy and spiritual vibe that seeps within the listener in a matter of seconds. Women's emancipation is conducted flawlessly throughout the album, especially in 'One girl among many', that features a choir of voices quoting the feminist activist Malala Yousafzai, and in '2857', which is dedicated to Rosa Parks. In the mentioned track we can see a sudden switch around the fifth minute, that turns the song from melancholic and sad into a free jazz and scatty tune. The only downside about the album is that some parts of certain tracks can result quite "dead" at some point due to the lack of rhythmic movement which is the forte of the album, yet, i think this record deserves a lot of appreciation not only for the songs themselves, but also for the deep and profound meaning behind it.
Polyhymnia
10/11/2019
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