Collocutor - Continuation (On The Corner Records)

WHAT THE COVER LOOKS LIKE:

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WHAT WE SAY:

Jazz was pretty much defined by pain & suffering &, with a nod to the East for spiritual guidance, the vehicle that Collocutor uses to beautifully meditate on grief, life's rocky emotional road, cathartic release & ultimate acceptance of our one way tickets. Another fine release from On the Corner.

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WHAT YOUR EARS SAY:

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WHAT THE RELEASE NOTES SAY:

‘Continuation’ is a remarkable work in which the interplay of emotional experience and life motion experienced by band leader Tamar Osborn (also known as Tamar Collocutor) is channelled and explored by Collocutor.

The band’s third LP assuredly strides forward following the critical acclaim awarded to ‘The Search’ from 2016 (a work that gained the enthusiastic praise of Mulatu Astake and Gilles Peterson among others).
Whereas ‘The Search’ invoked a journey ending in hope and new beginnings, ‘Continuation’ looks at the aftermath of the unexpected. This is an album about coping with grief, loss and bereavement: The music charts the many (and sometimes surprising) emotional states encountered, moving from acknowledgement, trying to keep ‘normal’ life going, the need to sometimes put a pause button on and let the waves of feelings crash and roll, sudden anger and confusion, finally to moving (perhaps with uncertainty) forward.

Tamar Osborn has led Collocutor through a line-up shift from septet to quintet for ‘Continuation’. The modified line-up creates space for the musicians to express themselves through the shades of ‘Continuation’'s movement. The quintet brings in more group improvisation, based on just a few motifs and so giving the musicians more space to converse. 
Tracks like  ‘Lost & Found’ and in particular the album’s title track, ‘Continuation’ (the only piece with 3 horns) hark back to the intricate arrangements of ‘The Search’. 

It’s a deeply personal album, the writing of which acted as Tamar's way of processing and understanding experience and the need to channel her feelings. 

In listening truly ‘Continuation’ bares that rare and precious gift of a morsel of the human experience being illuminated by artistic genius. 

Tamar Osborn - Baritone Sax (1, 3, 4, 5), Bass Clarinet (2 & 6), Flute (5)
Josephine Davies - Tenor Sax (2, 5 & 6)
Mike Lesirge - Tenor Sax (1, 3 & 4), Alto Flute (3)
Suman Joshi - bass
Marco Piccioni - guitar
Maurizio Ravalico - percussion

All composed sections written by Tamar Osborn

Recorded & Mixed by Sam Jones

‘Deep Peace’ recorded at Heath Street Baptist Church, London (August 2018)
All other tracks recorded at Lightship 95, Soup Studio, London (January 2019)

Mixed at Secretsundaze Studios, London

Mastered by Frank Merritt at The Carvery

Co-produced by Tamar Osborn & Sam Jones

Thanks to Brixton Hill Studios for being our rehearsal home, and David and Ed at Soup Studio for all their help