At the latest count eight of the sixteen tracks on Blue Note Re-Imagined have already been released as singles so you may have heard from this album already. Don’t be surprised if more aren’t released before and after the album drops. This is a major project with classic Blue Note albums interpreted and re-imagined by not only jazz artists but by R&B and soul artists from the U.K. Together they represent a vanguard of the new talent that has emerged from the London scene over the past several years. The project is a collaboration between the legendary labels Blue Note and Decca.
We’re going to depart from typical convention and list the artists and original tracks at the outset and then provide some select commentary. Released singles as of this writing are denoted by an asterisk.
*1. Jorja Smith “Rose Rouge” – from St Germain Tourist (2000)
*2. Ezra Collective “Footprints” – from Wayne Shorter Adam’s Apple (1966)
*3. Poppy Ajudha “Watermelon Man (Under The Sun)” – from Herbie Hancock Takin’ Off (1962)
*4. Jordan Rakei “Wind Parade” – from Donald Byrd Places and Spaces (1975)
*5. Skinny Pelembe “Illusion (Silly Apparition)” – from Andrew Hill One for One (1969)
*6. Alfa Mist “Galaxy” – from Eddie Henderson Sunburst (1975)
7. Ishmael Ensemble “Search for Peace”– from McCoy Tyner The Real McCoy (1967)
8. Nubya Garcia “A Shade of Jade”– from Joe Henderson Mode for Joe (1966)
*9. Steam Down feat. Afronaut Zu “Etcetera” – from Wayne Shorter Etcetera (1965)
10. Blue Lab Beats “Montara”– from Bobby Hutcherson Montara (1975)
*11. Yazmin Lacey “I’ll Never Stop Loving You” – from Dodo Greene My Hour of Need (1962)
12. Fieh “Armageddon”– from Wayne Shorter Night Dreamer (1964)
13. Mr Jukes “Maiden Voyage”– from Herbie Hancock Maiden Voyage (1965)
14. Shabaka Hutchings “Prints Tie”– from Bobby Hutcherson San Francisco (1970)
15. Melt Yourself Down “Caribbean Fire Dance”– from Joe Henderson Mode for Joe (1966)
16. Emma-Jean Thackray “Speak No Evil / Night Dreamer” – from Wayne Shorter Speak No Evil(1964) & Night Dreamer (1964)
Most of you are probably familiar with the two notable saxophonists Nubya Garcia and Shabaka Hutchings who turn in their usual stellar performances, Shabaka playing both clarinet and sax on the Bobby Hutcherson piece. The Ismael Ensemble is another sax-fronted group, a collective led by saxophonist & producer Pete Cunningham, mixing jazz with electronica as they do on the ethereal take of McCoy Tyner’s “Search for Peace.” Ezra Collective, is, of course, a pioneering quintet that has been on the forefront of the London scene for several years. Decca head of A&R Rachel Holmberg says, “…Many of the artists involved have grown up listening to the legendary Blue Note catalogue and for many it inspired them to get into music I n the first place. For Ezra Collective, who have reimagined Wayne Sorter’s “Footprints,” this was the first jazz track the band ever learnt to play together, which makes this record all the more important to share with the world!” “Footprints” is perhaps Shorter’s most covered song and Ezra Collective stays faithful to it while subtly injecting post-bop, hip-hop, and Afrobeat strains into their interpretation. Not only are these examples of the versatility of these UK artists, but especially in Shorter’s case, as we’ve pointed out in other recent reviews, shows how these compositions lend themselves to such inventive takes.
A close friend of Ezra Collective, Brit Award-winning singer-songwriter Jorja Smith opens the album with “Rose Rouge,” which St. Germain originally based on a sample of Marlena Shaw’s “Woman of the Ghetto” from her 1973 Cookin’ With Blue Note at Montreux. Smith melds soul, jazz, and reggae into this stirring take which also has an accompanying video that weaves together Black Lives Matters protests from around the globe. Poppy Ajudha is another rising UK star steeped in neo-soul (won Soul Act of the Year at 2019 Jazz FM Awards) who reimagines Hancock’s “Watermelon Man” more in the vein of his Headhunters version than the original but with the oppression of a black man in mind. She says, “I wanted to broaden the concept of the Watermelon Man to the way that black people in the U.S. and UK throughout history have been denied an understanding of where they came from and the truth of a violent history within the western world. It feels ever more relevant today with the BLM movement coming to the forefront of our lives and was an important direction for me to take the song in.” Vocalist Yazmin Lacey has similar sensibilities to Smith and Ajudha but sticks to a soulful take, inspired by Dodo Greene’s 1962 version of the pop hit, “I’ll Never Stop Loving You.”
London-based Australian multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and producer Jordan Rakei is another artist who blends jazz and hip-hop. He performed with Robert Glasper and Sudan Archives at the 2020 BBC Radio 6 Music Festival in London and finds Donald Byrd’s classic jazz-fusion piece “Wind Parade” a perfect vehicle for his artistry. Similarly, Self-taught pianist and producer Alfa Mist merges soul and hip-hop on Eddie Henderson’s jazz-fusion composition “Galaxy.” Alfa Mist began as a grime and hip-hop producer but soon began to explore jazz and film soundtracks. His sound, like many here, is hard to pin down, a mix of atmospheric and distinctly London influences.
Steam Down is an eight-piece collective merging Afro-swing, grime, jazz, and future soul. Here they take Shorter’s “Etcetera” with vocals by Afronaut Zu, into practically unrecognizable territory. The same can be said for Skinny Pelembe, an uncategorizable (getting the gist of these artists now?) multi-instrumentalist, producer and singer who flirts with MCing, so his sound is free from any one instrument or genre. He released his debut, Dreaming Is Dead Now, in 2019 to wide acclaim and accordingly selects one of Blue Note’s most explorative artists, Andrew Hill, adding his own stamp to “Illuision (Silly Apparition).”
Having commented on eleven of the sixteen, we leave the rest to your own discovery. Not only will you find some new artists, you’ll find highly imaginative takes on material you could have never envisioned played so inventively.
