We Out Here

Released

This nine-track compilation of young UK jazz was put together by bandleader, saxophone and clarinet player Shabaka Hutchings. It was recorded over a three-day period in the summer of 2017 and presented the new vanguard of UK jazz, introducing the public to an exciting, vibrant emerging scene. WOH demonstrated the broad range of styles and approaches that characterise the recent UK jazz renaissance, from the deep, spiritual jazz of Maisha’s Inside The Acorn, to Ezra Collective’s afrobeat-soul jazz hybrid, Theon Cross’s genre-striding tuba-anchored jams and Nubya Garcia’s exhilarating Afro-Caribbean-influenced sound. Joe Armon-Jones turns in one of his detailed, lengthy space-jazz-funk workouts which goes through a series of ever more intriguing musical developments and album finisher is the plaintive, yearning afro-tinged Abusey Junction from Kokoroko. A perfect album to kickstart a love affair with contemporary UK jazz.

Harold Heath

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