London's prolific hip-hop jazzmen
Blue Lab Beats
(more than three dozen releases since 2016) delivered the killer digital mix outing
The Sounds of Afrotronica
in collaboration with
Kaidi Akinnibi
in April 2021. They also wowed listeners in late 2020 with their commissioned cover/remix of
Bobby Hutcherson
's killer "Montara" on the smoking
Blue Note Re:Imagined
comp. The five-track
We Will Rise
EP marks their own debut entry on
Blue Note
's storied artist roster. When the Black Lives Matter protests took over America's streets during the summer of 2020,
responded to the violent images they saw on television by creating this healing balm for their brothers and sisters. In just over 16 minutes, producer
NK-OK
(
Namali Kwaten
) and multi-instrumentalist
Mr DM
David Mrakpor
) offer hope and inspiration to accompany the struggle against systemic racism and police violence on both sides of the Atlantic.
Opening track "Blow You Away (Delilah)" was cut in collaboration with Ghanian rapper and soul singer
Ghetto Boy
(with whom they appeared on "Fired Up" on
Angelique Kidjo
's brilliant
Mother Nature
album, which was released on the same day as this EP). Amid slippery highlife guitars, jazzy horns, and a roiling drum kit, they glue together boom-bap grooves and jazz-funk hooks. "Nights in Havana" finds them teaming with session guitarist
Alex Blake
in a slippery, Latin-tinged house groover, layered with their guest's
Grant Green
-inspired multi-octave six-string lines,
's shuffling four-on-the-floor snare and tom-tom vamp, and
's funky bassline, underscored by wafting synth and bumping Rhodes piano. The title track features funky alto saxophonist
Braxton Cook
, whose virtuosic solo elevates this 21st century soul jazz instrumental. It's equally suitable for slipping across the club floor or cruising down a city street with the volume on stun. If the late
Grover Washington, Jr.
started making music now, it might sound something like this. After a brief and slinky instrumental interlude, the set closes with the humid, sensual "Tempting (Dance 2)." It features vocals from co-writers
Kojey Radical
and
DTSOUL
.
's breezy keyboards and guitars pair elegantly with
's punchy yet in-the-pocket snare and hi-hat breaks, while their collaborators layer and stitch raps and sung lines right into the vamps.
lives up to every expectation
have inspired. The only downside is that this is an EP, not an album. Let's hope one arrives soon. ~ Thom Jurek