JAZZ
BY ANDY COWAN
deVon Russell Gray, Nathan Hanson, Davu Seru
★★★★
We Sick
INNOVA. CD/DL
A trio of powerhouse improvisers’ moving response to the murder of George Floyd.
Recorded in a church in Minneapolis, just a few weeks after George Floyd’s death in 2020, these six poignant improvisations splutter and crackle with unprocessed grief. While opener Letters witnesses its authors staking each other out – Russell Gray’s spare piano runs haunt the margins as Seru’s controlled percussive pitter-patter works the gaps – the sombre, deeper rhythm of They Stay Breathing Here and fragmented schemata of Solve For Malcolm’s two acts allow the fierce pealing tones of Nathan Hanson’s tenor and soprano saxes to howl, rage and weep with profound force. As with the Art Ensemble Of Chicago, Matthew Shipp or Muhal Richard Abrams, it’s further proof abstract jazz can deliver a real emotional punch, finding beauty and connection amid the darkest of lows.