Don Braden, Earth Wind and Wonder Volume 2 ***1/2

A trip down memory lane time again for Earth Wind and Fire fans as erudite saxophonist and flautist Don Braden returns to the well once again. Braden has the knack of drawing out the essence of the songs and translating them to a lightly sunny jazz …

Published: 10 Aug 2023. Updated: 46 days.

A trip down memory lane time again for Earth Wind and Fire fans as erudite saxophonist and flautist Don Braden returns to the well once again. Braden has the knack of drawing out the essence of the songs and translating them to a lightly sunny jazz setting. Backed by Stacey Kent pianist Art Hirahara alternating with Miki Hayama on piano and keyboards, bassist Kenny Davis, drummer Jeremy Warren and percussionist Kahlil Kwame Bell it's a vibrant setting that also sprinkles in some Stevie Wonder flavour for extra feeling. Braden is communicative, timbrally a little like Jean Toussaint in places, and warm. He manages to avoid being overly tricksy or too toothsomely melodic. You will be hearing these Earth Wind and Fire classics in a totally different way, guaranteed.

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Track of the day - Ed Jones, Dominic Lash, Mark Wastell, Meditating with the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Confront

An epic of a single track, not far short of 19 minutes long, acting as an interpretation of the opening 'The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost' from John Coltrane's Meditations. Saxophonist Ed Jones is incredibly tender when he first enters the …

Published: 10 Aug 2023. Updated: 46 days.

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An epic of a single track, not far short of 19 minutes long, acting as an interpretation of the opening 'The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost' from John Coltrane's Meditations. Saxophonist Ed Jones is incredibly tender when he first enters the fray patiently tended to by both bassist Dominic Lash and Confront Records' guiding light drummer/percussionist Mark Wastell. You enter a certain faraway space listening to this - there is such openness and potential. The sound could go anywhere. And yet all three exert a tight grip on the taut energy at the core of the piece as cog to a mighty wheel of Coltranian enlightenment that they develop so convincingly.