It should suffice to say that the music made by The Comet Is Coming is the polar opposite of the 1920s and 1930s jazz I’ve been listening to these past few weeks. After listening to the video posted here, I’m ready to continue experimenting with Manhattan cocktail proportions while listening to late period Miles Davis.
Overall, it is encouraging to know there is life in this century-old form of expression, something vividly illustrated in 2015 when Kamasi Washington’s audacious and sprawling three-disc release became the soundtrack to my mayoral bid.
Roger’s Year in Music 2015 (Part 9): Kamasi Washington and his Epic.
The Economist elaborates, providing another opportunity to name-drop Frank Zappa.
Jazz in the 21st century: Playing outside the box: The new sound of summer (The Economist)“JAZZ isn’t dead,’’ Frank Zappa once said, “it just smells funny.” If he were around today, Zappa might point to the music of a London-based trio, The Comet Is Coming, with its curious scent. At the Montreal International Jazz Festival earlier this month, the fiery saxophone of Shabaka Hutchings, Dan Leavers’s pulsating synthesiser and Maxwell Hallett’s arresting percussion dazzled an audience with its mash-up of jazz and cosmic sounds. Halfway through the show, some entranced listeners rose from their seats and danced to a tune perfect for a rave. The trio calls its music “apocalyptic space funk”. More important, Mr Leavers adds, is the group’s goal: like a comet it “travels through distant galaxies exploring musical concepts”.