I'll add The Sirius Mystery to marlbank top albums of the year to date in 2021 immediately without a doubt. Trumpeter and composer Russell Gunn delivers mightily entering a blutopian multiverse of considerable design. It's obvious. In the 1990s Gunn was with Wynton on Blood on the Fields and Wynton actually is on this fine new record composed, arranged, orchestrated and conducted by Gunn.
You may know Gunn's sound even more than you think especially if you recall the much-missed Jez Nelson BBC Radio 3 show Jazz on 3 which used a Gunn theme (from '74 Miles Away') for its theme tune.
Leading the zany Royal Krunk Jazz Orkestra who already have a few albums out, pan-African motifs are explored immersively on The Sirius Mystery drawing on Gunn's Malian roots and delving into the Dogon universe walking and talking with the spirits that surround.
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