Transmissions from Total Refreshment Centre

by Total Refreshment Centre

Overview

In 2020, the Blue Note Re:Imagined compilation showcased the U.K.'s current generation of London jazzers dialoging with and interpreting selections from the label's catalog. A companion volume appeared in 2022. Transmissions from Total Refreshment Centre offers another aural view of London's diverse scene, whose musicians here are all linked by their involvement with TRC. Founded by Lexus Blondin, the Centre umbrellas a label, recording studio, and venue. They're regularly populated with local and global players seeking new sounds and connections. Set opener "Visions" features fluid rapper Kieron Boothe in collaboration with Soccer96 (a quartet featuring Betamax and Danalogue from the Comet Is Coming, bass master Tom Herbert, and trumpeter Poppy Daniels). It weds syncopated jazz drumming to boom-bap beats under the vocals. Keyboards and electronics frame the rap as jazz formalism contrasts seamlessly with Boothe's modernism. Byron Wallen is a seminal and long-standing figure on the U.K. jazz scene. His "Closed Circle" combines crossover classical strings and North African and East Indian modalism in a post-bop delivery. Danny Keane's cello and Oli Langford's violin and viola set the elastic vamp. Drummer Tom Skinner's (co-founder of Sons of Kemet) tom-toms set up a roiling rhythmic attack as Wallen's horn and Tony Kofi's baritone sax take solos, then join with strings in post-bop interplay. Drummer/producer Jake Long leads a sextet on the darkly tinged "Crescent (City Swamp Dub)." A rumbling, moaning, baritone sax solo by Tamar Osborn (one of the most technically accomplished and creatively imaginative players on London's scene) pairs beautifully with Oli Haylett's droning electric guitar and the bluesy psychedelia in Artie Zait's six-string axe break as the rhythm section adds exponentially to the intensity of this murky, dubwise dread. Trumpeter/bandleader Jonathan Enser (Nubiyan Twist) and his Matters Unknown octet back the innovative, smoky contralto Miryam Solomon on the jazz ballad "Eloquence," with gorgeous piano from Lyle Barton. Melbourne's futurist Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange recorded "Isa," a BPM-intensive meld of jazzy house, electronically saturated funk, and neo-soul with guest vocalist Noah Slee. The horn charts, layered polyrhythms, and fretless bass channel jazz-funk and Brazilian fusion. Neue Grafik lays down meaty low-end keyboard bass to introduce "Black" with rapper-poet Brother Portrait (Hadiru Mahdi). The latter's pinched yet elastic flow offers hard truth; the only other musician on the cut, saxophonist XVNGO (pronounced "Shango"), supports him with a fine solo. Interestingly, the set ends with a cover of Charles Tolliver's spiritual jazz classic "Plight" by Chicago sextet Resavoir. Led by composer/multi-instrumentalist/producer Will Miller, they capture Tolliver's inherent lyricism with two drummers, samples, trumpet, tenor saxophone, and Akenya Seymour's nearly transcendent piano and wordless vocals. Its driving movement is wide open as the ensemble engage one another in free-flowing, intimate communication. Transmissions from Total Refreshment Centre goes beyond the Blue Note Re:Imagined series, setting high standards of its own with a bracing set of transnational sounds. ~ Thom Jurek

Product Details

Release Date:	02/17/2023
Label:	Blue Note
UPC:	0602445363995
Rank:	97825

Tracks

1. Visions  - Kieron Boothe  -  Soccer96
2. Closed Circle  - Byron Wallen
3. Crescent [City Swamp Dub]  - Jake Long
4. Eloquence  -  Matters Unknown  - Miryam Solomon
5. Isa  - Noah Slee  -  Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange
6. Black  -  Brother Portrait  -  Neue Grafik
7. Plight  -  Resavoir

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Total Refreshment Centre   Primary Artist
Matters Unknown   Primary Artist
The Plight   Primary Artist
Byron Wallen   Primary Artist,Trumpet
Kieron Boothe   Primary Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals
Neue Grafik   Primary Artist,Keyboards
Noah Slee   Primary Artist,Vocals,Featured Artist
Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange   Primary Artist
Eloquence   Primary Artist
Soccer96   Primary Artist
Resavoir   Primary Artist
Jake Long   Primary Artist,Drums
Miryam Solomon   Primary Artist,Vocals,Featured Artist
Brother Portrait   Primary Artist,Vocals,Featured Artist
Black   Primary Artist
Isa   Primary Artist
Tony Kofi   Sax (Baritone)
Matt Davies   Drums
Kierra "Kiki" Sheard   Bass (Acoustic)
Jeremy Cunningham   Drums,Drums (Electric),Electronic Percussion
Tamar Osborn   Sax (Baritone)
Danny Keane   Cello
Tom Herbert   Bass
Aduni Guedes   Vocals,Percussion
Alec Hewes   Double Bass
Joseph Murgatroyd   Clarinet (Bass)
Roman Klobe-Baranga   Bass
Oli Haylett   Drones,Guitar
Lane Beckstrom   Bass
Rosie Turton   Trombone
Danalogue   Juno,Synthesizer
Akenya Seymour   Piano,Voices
Jansen Santana   Percussion
Poppy Daniels   Trumpet
Amane Suganami   Synthesizer
Twm Dylan   Bass
Peter Manheim   Drums,Percussion
Will Miller   Piano,Trumpet,Sampling,Synthesizer
Nick Richards   Sax (Alto)
Nick Walters   Trumpet
Szabolcs Bognar   Piano,Synthesizer
Oliver Langford   Viola,Violin
Artie Zaitz   Guitar
Sen Morimoto   Saxophone
Tom Skinner   Drums
Betamax   Drums
Ziggy Zeitgeist   Drums
Jonathan Enser   Trumpet
Lyle Barton   Piano
Xvngo   Sax (Tenor)
Moses Yoofee   Synthesizer,Fender Rhodes

Technical Credits

Jake Long   Composer,Producer,Musical Producer
Kristian Craig Robinson   Recording,Mixing,Engineer
Charles Tolliver   Composer
Dilip Harris   Mixing
Byron Wallen   Composer,Producer
Emma Warren   Liner Notes
Aduni Guedes   Composer
Axel Knott   Assistant Engineer
Dhanesh Jayaselan   Photography
Fred N'thepe   Composer
Roman Klobe-Baranga   Composer
Sophie Jouvenaar   Photography
Neue Grafik   Mixing,Engineer,Producer,Recording
Noah Slee   Composer
Oliver Barton-Wood   Mixing
Raimund Wong   Design,Artwork
Danalogue   Mixing,Engineer,Producer,Recording
Will Miller   Arranger,Producer
Tom Herbert   Composer
Joseph Hart   Photography
Nick Walters   Composer
Maxwell Hallett   Composer
Szabolcs Bognar   Composer
Dan Leavers   Composer
Frank Merritt   Mastering,Mastering Engineer
Alessandro Ruggeri   Photography
Ziggy Zeitgeist   Composer,Producer
Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange   Composer
Jonathan Enser   Composer,Engineer,Producer,Recording
Alexis Blondel   A&R,Producer,Executive Producer
Hadiru Mahdi   Composer
Moses Yoofee   Composer
Kieron Boothe   Composer
Axel Reinemer   Engineer,Recording