The UK collective’s London Brew is out now.
Concord Jazz have released a new collaborative album inspired by late American trumpeter Miles Davis‘ seminal Bitches Brew.
Conceptualised and assembled by Grammy winning producer/guitarist Martin Terefe and executive producer Bruce Lampcov in 2020, the aptly entitled London Brew’s personnel were initially recruited to embark upon a live performance celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of Bitches Brew which as with many plans of the time, ultimately became thwarted in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Thereafter Terefe and Lampcov regrouped the constituent parts of London Brew once more with an aim to reimagine Davis’ groundbreaking 1970 album in a studio setting. Documented over three days of recording sessions from London’s Church Studios in December 2020, the project features an assemblage of the English capital city’s most revered contemporary musical figures skilfully channelling the singular ethos of Davis through the London jazz landscape’s multifaceted lens over eight sprawling movements. Amongst the album’s formidable lineup are Nubya Garcia, Shabaka Hutchings, Theon Cross, Dave Okumu, Tom Skinner and more.
Okumu explains of the newly released album,
“In all my years of recording, I’d never been involved in an improvisatory process on this scale. Its ease and sense of endlessness is surely a testament to the calibre of each musician and the unique manner in which they’ve taken on the lessons Miles set before us through his recording and performances.”
Hutchings continues of Davis’ Bitches Brew,
“For me, that’s what Bitches Brew is. It’s a bunch of musicians making music because of the love of making music, as a social force and as a social construct. They are creating something that expresses unity and motion. That’s what it is to be alive… you know, you have unity, you have motion, and you have vibration. You don’t get any more alive than that. That’s Bitches Brew.”
Stream London Brew below.
London Brew
1 ‘London Brew’ (23:34)
2 ‘London Brew Pt.2 – Trainlines’ (15:49)
3 ‘Miles Chases New Voodoo in the Church’ (7:27)
4 ‘Nu Sha Ni Sha Nu Oss Ra’ (8:55)
5 ‘It’s One of These’ (6:53)
6 ‘Bassics’ (2:51)
7 ‘Mor Ning Prayers’ (9:52)
8 ‘Raven Flies Low’ (12:53)
London Brew is out now via Concord Jazz. Purchase the album on black and opaque blue vinyl variants here.
Words by Sam Wilkinson.
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