JAZZ PROG
Sid Smith rounds up the best releases from prog’s jazzier reaches.
Yumi Hara’s
Groove Study (Bonobo’s Ark Records) distills so many of the musical ideas that she’s pursued in her work as a composer and performer over the years (she has collaborated with luminaries such as Gong’s Daevid Allen, Soft Machine’s Hugh Hopper and various members of Henry Cow). It fizzes with invention and inspiration: Orlyonok is driven by back-breaking time changes and a serpentine melody. Embraced by Hara’s voluminous church organ, which dominates much of the album, it’s nothing short of majestic. Henry Cow’s Tim Hodgkinson and Chris Cutler bring their precision A-game to Hara’s incisive compositions.