What does the contemporary jazz fan really want in terms of styles these days? There certainly isn't a one size-fits-all in terms of new releases. While a lot of music is bracketed as jazz it may well be unrecognisable to traditionalists or those schooled in the classic sound of Blue Note jazz from the 60s. The ECM label from 1969 on probably did a good deal to usher in a lot of change away from such orthodoxies that had grown up centred around swing or formulaic routines. Straddling classical music, the avant garde and hybrid approaches exploring folk musics from all over the world the ECM sound as a chamber vehicle is unrecognisable to many early jazz forms whether trad jazz, classic swing or boogie-woogie. All the above struck me listening to a new band called Forgiveness that the Gondwana label are getting behind and unveil with the first stirrings of Next Time Could Be Your Last Time out in June. What's here fits no easy category and draws deep on new-ish electronica sounds that have become increasingly important in recent years. You might say that hybrid sounds are actually the future whether as here or in the meshing of jazz and say AfroBeat that such bands as Kokoroko have successfully explored. There is a restlessness in contemporary jazz that seeks to move things on and explore new pathways. That's why while often enjoyable as a trip down memory lane playing retro styles in a faithful manner seems to say less about the current generations of players keen to make their mark with their own ways of doing things and more about shoring up the history of the music. Critics might contend that new improvisers are actually playing too far beyond the parameters of the language itself to be meaningful to the core language and traditions. And in some cases this may be true. Does it actually matter how close or not players stick to the rites and rituals of classic jazz? The current generation if Forgiveness are at all representative it seems does not think so.