Sun Ra Arkestra — Swirling
The now up to fifteen-piece band is lead & guided by Alto sax player Marshall Allen, and largely they sound both invigorated & often edgy though-out much of the records run time- which is most impressive for a project that's been in existence for over forty years.
The most rewarding moments occur when the band let loose and experiment to create often highly different takes of older tracks. Take the stabbing ‘n’ tripping horn-meets bounding discordant piano and sudden flourishes of spacey electronics on "Rocket no.9". Or "Seductive Fantasy", where they strip out the 1979’s original wondering jam-ness, dropping straight into the bobbing horn & shambling piano groove. As the track progresses the groove remains, but they add in wonderfully looping & cascading layers of instrumental tone- be it extra off pattern sax or flute trails, bouncing & spacey electronics tones, or darting counter-rhythms- making this near twelve-minute not only the longest track here, but one of the albums centrepieces.
I’ll have to say I was less keen of the over-enthusiastic & theatrical female vocals that appear on a few of the tracks here- as they sound a tad contrived & decidedly hammy. Thankfully these are largely kept fairly minimal, with the shifting and cascading layers of instrumentation been allowed to flow & swirl nicely.
As you’d expect with an Arkestra record we get a nice balance of rising & grand, if at points waveringly wonky melodies, and more off-kilter, spaced out dwells- though things never go too way out, meaning this will appeal to those with a more formal jazz ear too.
The only true original/ new track here is the seven minutes and forty-two seconds of the title track. Here we find a just off-pitch mixture of swinging horns, skittering drums, and fluttering piano. The track strolls & serenades along in a wonderfully tipsy & slight blurry manner, and we also do get a brief appearance of ‘those’ female vocals- but they are surprisingly bearable/ fitting here, as the singer takes on a decidedly lush and grand 1930’s vibe.
On paper & by its track listing Swirling may look like just another retread of the band's past glories, but in reality, it’s a wonderful revisiting/ reinvention- making for one of the surprisingly great jazz records of 2020. The albums available as either a CD (the version I reviewed), or double vinyl version- so it’s nice to see both formats covered.