| Jazz |
I’m fortunate to have collaborators who search every corner to find rare gems, like this artist T.K. Blue, a multi-instrumentalist. Here, T.K. Blue plays the saxophone, flute, and kalimba, along with trumpeter Wallace Roney Jr., pianist Davis Whitfield, bassist Dishan Harper, and drummer Orion Turre – with special guests Steve Turre and Dave Kikoski. Steve Turre, that absolutely brilliant trombonist and composer I recently mentioned here (*Sanyas* album’s review), forms part of a particularly delightful group that oscillates between classic and inspired jazz, and a form of jazz fusion that is both explosive and poetic, making it truly enjoyable. We also appreciate how this complex music is accessible to everyone thanks to its truly sublime arrangements. *Planet Bluu* highlights Wallace Roney Jr. on trumpet, Davis Whitfield on piano, Dishan Harper on bass, and Orion Turre on drums, with Steve Turre on trombone and seashells (“Planet Bluu,” “Chrystal Lake Bluu,” “Chessman’s Delight,” “Turquoise Bluu”) and Dave Kikoski on piano (“When It’s Time to Say Goodbye”). The album will be released on October 25 via JAJA Records.
These compositions will immediately make you feel at home, thanks to the extraordinary musicians – artists with a deep sense and respect for their craft, clearly in tune with the world, connected to a form of Africanness. This is evident as, when discussing the artist’s vast repertoire, New York’s *Hot House Jazz Guide* praised T.K. Blue’s “flexible and sometimes searing timbre on the alto and flute,” and noted his “Afro-diasporic eclipse of jazz with Caribbean and Latin rhythms, and gnawa music from Morocco.” *All About Jazz* lauded his “talent, passion, and commitment to musical diversity.” Regarding his 2017 album *Amour*, *DownBeat* wrote that Blue “exudes great dexterity and a disarming charm… [He] is an artisan so in love with his work that it doesn’t even seem like work.”
*Planet Bluu* is no randomly chosen name. It’s the universe Blue invites us to join, far from the world’s stupidity, racism, and other ugly stories. Here, everything is a pretext for unity, even communion. *Planet Bluu* creates a world “just beyond the realm of our imagination,” says Blue. He describes it as “a dream so fragile that if you even whisper its presence, this magnanimous world might vanish into the air.” T.K. Blue rejoices that *Planet Bluu* is a place without war, famine, systemic racism, gender discrimination, or religious intolerance. Yet, while “this radiant planet lies just beyond the boundaries of our galaxy in a perpetual state of munificence,” here on “terra firma,” he and his colleagues “had music to create!” We particularly love those African or sunny island sounds, making us want to celebrate, stroll through the streets on an autumn evening in a region filled with warmth.
Like many albums these days, it’s hard to detach from it. It’s a journey, an experience that pushes you, once the eleven tracks of the album reach their end, to start again, fearing you haven’t heard or grasped everything. Blue identifies the effervescent quality of African hand pianos on *Planet Bluu* as the sonic source of the album’s ineffable vision. Besides being a formidable saxophonist and flutist, T.K. Blue is a master of these instruments, including the kalimba, sanza, lukembi, mbira, and bongo, which differ by their names depending on the regional origins of their construction, tunings, and distinct tones. African hand piano players are often known as Griots or Jalis, the oral historians of traditional African society. Deeply influenced by the diasporic African heritage of his parents from Trinidad, Tobago, and Jamaica, as well as by his own travels throughout Africa – including three U.S. State Department tours – Blue also shares how, rooted in his diverse African experience, *Planet Bluu* creates “sounds of joy and rhythmically dynamic music for people to feel in their hearts.” It’s only natural to send this album where it belongs, specifically to our “Essentials” pile.
Thierry De Clemensat
USA correspondent – Paris-Move and ABS magazine
Editor in chief Bayou Blue Radio, Bayou Blue News
PARIS-MOVE, September 19th 2024
Follow PARIS-MOVE on X
::::::::::::::::::::::