Revered jazz musician Yazz Ahmed will release new album ‘A Paradise In The Hold’ on February 28th.
The composer recently brought her catalogue back to vinyl, working with new label Night Time Stories. Looking ahead, new material is on the horizon, with Yazz Ahmed set to release her fourth studio album in the New Year.
Out on February 28th, ‘A Paradise In The Hold’ continues her fusion sound – post-bop improvisation melted together with aspects of her Bahraini heritage.
Ahead of this, the powerfully ambitious 10-minute title track is out now, a heady feast of freedom music seemingly inspired by the voyages of Bahraini pearl divers braving the seas to bring home their precious cargo.
There’s a transportive aspect to Yazz Ahmed’s music, and a subtle yet pervasive sense of joy.
She comments…
Composition began during experimentation with recordings from a research trip to hear the Pearl Divers of Muharraq in 2014. I processed short fragments of ceremonial sounds and morphed them into an undulating beat emulating the rise and fall, the breathing of the ocean, the creaking of the boat’s timbers.
The piece has evolved during live performances into something of an epic, with solos from myself, George Crowley on bass clarinet and Naadia Sheriff on Fender Rhodes. It continues with a darbuka solo by Corrina Silvester, played over an extended vamp with polyrhythmic clapping from the ensemble, before the uplifting coda. I wanted to paint a picture of the joyful celebrations of the collective efforts of the sailors to bring their riches home.
Tune in now.
Photo Credit: Alex Bex
