Hyperituals Vol. 2: Black Saint

Due to socio-economic disruptions and inner-city riots in the late ’60s, the jazz ecosystem was in a fraught state by the 1970s, with many forward-thinking jazz artists suddenly finding themselves without venues to play or record labels to record for. Enter Italy’s Black Saint – established in 1975 by Giacomo Pellicciotti (Giovanni Bonandrini would take over in 1978) – which gave many American artists a new home, from fiery saxophonists Archie Shepp and Frank Lowe to iconoclasts like Cecil Taylor and Sun Ra well into the 1990s.

Hyperituals, the second volume in a series exploring this oft-overlooked label’s CD only releases, casts such stalwarts in new light: in the spoken word gravitas of Shepp, the languid grace of Sun Ra’s last recordings. But make space for the lesser known luminaries throughout, be it the slow unfurling movements of the John Carter Octet, the nimble bass/ cello duet of Deidre Murray and Fred Hopkins, or the intercontinental interplay between the Art Ensemble of Chicago’s Joseph Jarman and Famoudou Don Moye and South African bassist Johnny Dyani. Each selection speaks to the boundless – and borderless – beauty of the art form.