Many jazz fans break out in a sweat when they see the word "collective" in the name of a jazz group. One assumes the music is going to be avant-garde and free form to the point of incoherence. You'll be happy to know that that the Black Art Jazz Collective's new album Truth to Power (HighNote) is warmly stormy and soulfully engaging.
This collective is a sextet that has been around since 2014 and features topnotch musicians carrying on the tradition of black jazz of the 1960s and '70s that was both spirited and socially conscious. The album includes the following musicians on different tracks: Jeremy Pelt, Josh Evans and Wallace Roney Jr. (tp), James Burton III (tp), Wayne Escoffery (saxes), Xavier Davis and Victor Gould (p,el p), Vincent Archer and Rashaan Carter (b) and Johnathan Blake and Mark Whitfield, Jr. (d). [Photo above of Wayne Escoffery]
The tracks are:
- Black Heart (Xavier Davis)
- The Fabricator (Jonathan Blake)
- Truth to Power (Wayne Escoffery)
- It's Alright (Jeremy Pelt)
- Coming of Age (James Burton III)
- Dsus (Victor Gould)
- Code Switching (Burton)
- Soliloquy (for Sidney Poitier) (Pelt)
- Lookin' for Leroy (Escoffery)
- Blues on Stratford Road (Blake)
The music is hard-charging (Truth to Power, Dsus, Lookin' for Leroy and Code Switching) and sensual (It's Alright and Soliloquy for Sidney Poitier). In some places the group reminds me of Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers with Wayne Shorter and in others the Jazz Crusaders. [Photo above of Jeremy Pelt]
Overall, the Black Art Jazz Collective has its own sound that delivers a strong message. This is jazz from a black point of view as I remember it in the 1960s and '70s, which means it's deeply felt and muscular in a poetic, meaningful way. Check it out.
JazzWax tracks: You'll find Black Art Jazz Collective's Truth to Power (HighNote) here and on streaming platforms.
JazzWax clips: Here's Lookin' for Leroy...
And here's It's Alright...
