22A
Now a key figure in London’s jazz resurgence, flautist and synth player Tenderlonious (aka Ed Cawthorne) was up against it to put a band together when a gap appeared in the studio timetable at Abbey Road. Hastily assembling the 22archestra (a hat-tip to Sun Ra, and his own record company 22a), The Shakedown comes from an improvised eight-hour session in March 2017. Often relaxed and expansive, the under-the-gun genesis of the album doesn’t show through in the final nine tracks. Cawthorne’s background in drum ’n’ bass, hip-hop, grime and dance-oriented jazz informs many of the cuts here. There are Latin flourishes, too, on the summery Expansions, and wonderfully tight interplay in the rhythm section on Yussef’s Groove. Cawthorne’s impressive flute work shines on Maria, and the ambitious title track is evidence of a cultured musical mind deftly marrying the past, present and future of jazz.