Ringing in the changes, let's hope. Toronto saxist/multi-instrumentalist Joseph Shabason might well seize the moment and the day as a messenger if the rest of birdsong bedecked The Fellowship tracks are as immersive and tactile as the gloriously polyphonic chamber-jazz instrumental arrangement of the lushly melodic title track of his upcoming album to be released by Western Vinyl at the end of April. The sound of the EWI (the electronic wind instrument most associated back in the day with the much missed Michael Brecker) makes a dazzling return in one of the key passages. According to the blurb on Bandcamp ''The title track of The Fellowship swings toward relief and reflection, and buoys the mood up to something childlike.'' A bright woodwind voicing certainly slips down like instant sunshine after the rain. You may know Shabason from his part on the mighty Dylanalogical excitation of 'Eyes to the Wind' a dweller on the threshold called to the instrumental hearth of The War on Drugs 2014 album Lost in the Dream (rising up like Shalimar at the 5-minute mark). Or more recently breaking deep into the blue on his own record from 2017, Aytche. SG. Joseph Shabason, top
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