I wanna hear the new single "House Of Cards" > Tickets are already on sale for most shows, snatch em up while you can. We've got a massive international release tour lined up as well, almost 30 concerts, in 8 different countries, onīoth sides of the Atlantic. We'll have it in vinyl LP, CD, cassette, and digital formats. Strut Records in the rest of the world, and Man, we're psyched about this record - it'll be on The Souljazz Orchestra - House Of Cards > We've already got a taste for you up on YouTube, a dark disco-tinged track called "House Of Cards" that takes a thinly veiled swipe at the current US administration.
#THE SOULJAZZ ORCHESTRA. FREE#
Now this is a fierce one - a mix of future soul, tropical groove and free jazz improv, all approached with a bit of a post-punk vibe. We're droppin' a brand new album, Chaos Theories, on Friday September 13th! The album's already available for pre-order, be the first one on your block with a copy: The Souljazz Orchestra - General Strike > This is a badass one, turn dem speakers up! On the ruff & tuff punk/reggae anthem "General Strike", which features him on lead vocals and baritone sax. The Souljazz Orchestra's own Ray Murray digs into his Jamaican-Canadian roots So we've got another new tune for ya from our upcoming album Chaos Theories. Today we release another new single from our upcoming album Chaos Theories, a soulful acoustic spiritual jazz anthem called "Well Runs Dry", featuringĭrummer/percussionist Philippe Lafrenière on vocals, and rousing solos from Ed Lister on trumpet and Steve Patterson on tenor sax. Our new album Chaos Theories comes out today in finer record stores and online! Some of the finest performances of their career." (9/10) Exclaim! "This is very much a political album, no doubt, but in true Souljazz fashion, it serves as a bustling backdrop for Show me the new "Police The Police" video > The court case against the police officers involved is currently in progress, let's hope justice prevails. The song was inspired by the events that led to the untimely death of our Ottawa neighbour Mr. But the group's impulse to dismantle and globalize their sound (or their refusal to settle on one) is admirable, and their efforts to do so result in some inventive moments.So not only does our new album Chaos Theories come out today, but New York City'sĪlso just premiered our first official video from the album, coupé-décalé The band’s recent interest in more introspective and less tightly structured music doesn’t always play to their strengths, namely, their ability to devise and deliver taut and constantly mutating arrangements. Inner Fire's biggest problem is a sporadic lack of energy. “Celestial Blues”, a cover of a Roland Kirk-styled piece of 70s avant-soul by Gary Bartz NTU Troop makes one curious about the original record, but the SJO’s version itself ultimately comes off as inert. The spare, blues-inflected dirge “East Flows the River” lacks some much-needed disruptive element or event to keep it from sounding like a jazzy piece of boom-bap rap production without an MC.
#THE SOULJAZZ ORCHESTRA. FULL#
Inner Fire falters when the ensemble attempts full pieces in the “spiritual” mold, as on “Black Orchid", a slick piece of lite-funk. Steve Patterson and Ray Murray, the SJO’s tenor and baritone players, often channel the legendary saxophonist in their solos, and Chrétien frequently emulates the keyboard flourishes of McCoy Tyner and Alice Coltrane. The band has always claimed the style as a source of inspiration-their 2007 album Freedom No Go Die features a rendition of Pharoah Sanders’ hypnotic half-hour opus “The Creator Has a Master Plan”. “As the Crow Flies”, the single finest track, unites an unsettled horn theme and modal chord changes that would be at home on a pre-electric Herbie Hancock record with a bossa nova backbeat.Įqually fundamental to the ethos of Inner Fire is the school of spiritual jazz that blossomed in the wake of John Coltrane’s Eastern-influenced explorations of the mid–1960s. The album’s highlights are its most culturally ambiguous selections, like “One Life to Live”, which mixes rhumba and reggaeton rhythms, and “Sommet En Sommet”, a dense, three-against-four shuffle influenced partially by Guinean music. The driving polyrhythms of Nigerian folk music that marked their earlier work are set aside in favor of more laid-back percussion indigenous to the Americas. Much of Inner Fire consists of intricately arranged, harmonically adventurous Afro-Latin jazz this sound, when paired with the lush piano and vibraphone backgrounds Chrétien favors, creates resonances with Mulatu Astatke’s Ethio-jazz.