Nana’s Sunday Jams: LDN’S Burning - Theon Cross

Published on 2020-10-18 00:00:00 by Nana Fani-Kayode

**Banner a_rtwork by the majestic Trav, all of Nanas jams are gathered in_ this playlist.******Yes Yes Sunday Jammers. How are you feeling? Good I hope and not too discombobulated. I felt the same up until the last couple of days but have decided to use music to sail above it all. I cannot recommend it enough; musical clouds can provide soft resting spots for disconnected parts and weary noggins.Last week I set on the Jazz path, so far, it’s been a pretty good time. I have to admit I am pleasantly surprised and filled with new fire. So happy to have something to take a deep dive into, not just the music, but the whole cake; the artists, the scene, the instruments, the various labels, distributors, supporters and on; all shouting out in this beautiful cacophony of colour. I have to make mention of some of the things I have stumbled into. Starting with new ponderings about musical forms like jazz that can take on others to create something new. It makes me wonder if that’s what Jazz is or has become. Is it even a musical form in the conventional sense of course it is but I mean is it more of an interpreter of all that goes on around us, less wed to certain conventions hence its abstract nature, its ability to inspire musicians to push further into the technical, is it the prolific scruffy beat poet tasked with communicating the constant changes and frictions we experience. Is that why I’ve had this genre all wrong? Or maybe Jazz, as I understand it, has had a bit of renaissance and come of age. Very interested to hear other views and suggestions on this one so hit me up. The other discovery – full disclosure I am past late to this party is Gearbox Records, which should have clearly featured in the last short tour so consider this a really bright, shiny sticky note to return to. Could not be happier with my new companion, trying hard not to gorge. New music, labels with lovely catalogues to digitally thumb through at my own pace and musical philosophies to muse over; is that not the perfect Sunday.So, this week’s featured artist is Theon Cross, with ‘LDN’s Burning’ from the 2019 album Fyah, heavy duty. I am now all about the Tuba, nothing else, only the Tuba, forever the Trombone too but that really is it okay the trumpet too. This is an instrument I always associate with the bass section of a live band, with the exception of The Hot 8 Brass Band they too repackaged the Tuba for me, but this moves beyond its capacity to add bass. This album puts it squarely in the category of ear seduction, sexy as hell much like any lead guitar. Putting the Tuba front and centre just works, it grabs for your middle section as well as your feet, like any good piper moves you along and requires full submission. Shout out to Julia and Raph whose table I was sitting at when this came on, all I could do was bob my head all the way through conversation. Yes. This album feels a like a shout out to all those at the back jaded by stagnation who need a bit of waking up, it’s a love song to all the musical forms shaping his sound, illustrates his unquestionable musical prowess, a respect for melody but also an intellectual abstract tinkering.The musical influences are far and wide but what made the greatest impression on me is the arrangement; whether deliberate or just a beautiful by-product this album does not make thinking about the music and dancing to it mutually exclusive, it really is a case of having the whole cake. It’s all electricity, barely contained and makes me yearn for a fast forward to when live music and dancing is back on the menu fulltime. Wile. The. Hell. out.