Saturday morning listen, the best time of the week - sometimes there is simply nothing up to the task to inject the requisite feeling and do its spirit of well-being justice. But there is today. So track of the day and new in the One Love spot we are in a flowing spiritual-jazz space that lands somewhere as if time-travelling to a never to be found again Pharoah Sanders or Yusef Lateef oasis where a rare atmosphere of much sought-after serenity lives. That's one instinctive reaction to hearing 'Cloud 10,' the lead-off and title track from September's Gondwana latest agenda-setter.
Recorded at the Estudio Brazil in Madrid the throb of the bass from Simon Houghton, known as Sneaky, who flavours the vamp before Chip Wickham comes in on tenor saxophone, resounds. Vibes are played by Spanish scenester Ton Risco and fill space imaginatively. Risco sounds as much like Gary Burton as he does Bobby Hutcherson, first thought, in this passage.
New GoGo Penguin drummer the much admired Jon Scott hangs the beat back to let it fertilise the groove while Nottingham-born pianist Phil Wilkinson, a former student of Darius Brubeck, is suitably decorative in context given some florid touches.
Note that the track fades at the end which is certainly frustrating as it feels as if the whole thing has only just begun. We certainly do not want it to end.
Hear Chip in Ronnie Scott's this autumn
Chip Wickham photo: Jazz FM
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