Track of the day 'The Summertime' drawn from the upcoming Jean Carne JID012 out on Friday: As a solo artist, backing singer, vocal coach, Jean Carne has collaborated with Norman Connors, Doug Carn, Dexter Wanse and Phyllis Hyman to name only a few. Appearing on Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Adrian Younge's label Jazz is Dead, Carne is not an overly glossy manufactured vocalist by any means indeed remains the very antithesis of such confection. To her eternal credit Carne, whose voice traverses the spaceways of the unfettered imagination to the mysterious place between the notes and back, still delivers an experimental punch couched within the arc of a 1970s-like groove. Carne knows how to improvise convincingly and in context best of all on the formidable album track 'Black Love'. Surely June Tyson (1936-1992), vocalist with Sun Ra, taking matters to the nth degree, was a kindred spirit to Carne or seems so from this distance. And Ra fans may find something meaningful here just as easily as Carne's many long-time admirers who come from Roy Ayers-like soul-jazz and go the extra mile to journey with Carne once again to take the spirit radically – and just as completely – out. SG
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