THE RICH ARE ONLY DEFEATED WHEN RUNNING FOR THEIR LIVES (viny)

Description

A RESOLUTELY JAZZ ALBUM THAT ECHOES THE FERTILE LONDON SCENE. PROGRESSIVE, CONSCIOUS AND POLITICAL JAZZ. Anthony surrounded himself with the most sought-after musicians on the local scene (Jason Yarde (Jazz Re:freshed, Shabaka Hutchings), Crispin Robinson (founder of the iconic acid Jazz band Galliano), Rod Youngs (Gil Scott Heron's drummer). Anthony Joseph masterfully wields words to express his still intact activism! A deeply political album, the use of jazz as emancipation and a duty to remember colonized peoples. After two albums strongly linked to Trinidad and the Caribbean, Anthony Joseph's musical sextant pointed towards London. A city where he has been established for many years, and in whose effervescence he connected with the local jazz scene. Between the Caribbean and London, there have always been many connections, colonialism and its best ally, slavery, having favored the temporary or definitive migration of Afro-Caribbeans to the British capital. For various reasons, but sometimes, to connect with the London ferment, to mingle with the intellectual and cultural fervor, to use the city's strategic position as a sounding board to disseminate activism and political thoughts. Artistic expression readily invited itself. After two albums with a Caribbean axis of rotation, Anthony Joseph's musical sextant pointed towards London. A city where he has been established for many years, and in whose effervescence he connected with the local jazz scene. To this new guard that shakes up the genre. Vigorous, inventive, respectful of its swing, be-bop, hard-bop heritage, whose works it reveres while playing with its own codes infused with contemporary influences. A master of images, a teller of metaphorical tales where humor slips in subtle touches, Anthony Joseph makes his music an act of resistance and struggle. A weapon both political and spiritual. The festive grooves that inhabited his previous albums are now obscured and deepened, atmospheres conducive to reflection settle in, evocative power is intensified, consciousness expands and allows spirituality to appropriate the space. Patiently, brass, keyboards and percussion are added to light cymbal beats; dark melodies, rearing solos, conquering melodies, vintage layers and tight lattices. Collective improvisations lead to the coherence that unites form and substance. The result depends on the communion of the moment, on the musicians' ability to connect all at the same time. Anthony Joseph's music then becomes a progressive, conscious and political jazz, which, in the studio as on stage, cannot be tamed. It is captured in all its incandescence. And rendered just as ablaze. "As comfortable with a pen as behind a microphone, the swinging Anthony Joseph has the phrasing of Gil Scott Heron, the charisma of Fela Kuti and the footwork of Muhammad Ali." --- L'EXPRESS ---. "The poet slammer from Trinidad combines preacher's charisma and Voodoo trance frenzy" --- TÉLÉRAMA ---.