ON OUR OWN CLOCK by ON OUR OWN CLOCK

(RH Record of the week review at the bottom of this text)

Pre-pandemic, there was a plan. The plan was for musicians from South Africa and Senegal to travel to London’s in uential Total Refreshment Centre to make an album with musical kindred spirits in the UK. Like so many plans, it had to be adapted. Album features an array of high profile players from the burgeoning nu-jazz scenes in London and Johannesburg, including Theon Cross, Asher Gamdeze, Siya Makuzeni (SPAZA), The Comet Is Coming’s Danalogue & Alabaster dePlume

During the first wave of COVID-19 lockdowns, groups of heavy-hitting musicians met for a day of intense recording in their home cities then sent the music to their compadres across the oceans. They returned to the studio a month later to respond to the music they’d been sent. The result is ‘On Our Own Clock’, a sonic testament to trenchant and collaborative creativity which digs into layers of South African jazz, traditional Senegalese instrumental music and London’s rich diaspora-informed musicality. Individually these are powerful strands of music. Collectively, they are super-sized. 

The 14 players are individually stellar and include tuba don Theon Cross; Alabaster dePlume, whose album ‘To Cy & Lee’ has been a pandemic panacea to so many people (including Bon Iver, who sampled it); top South African players including Siya Makuzeni (SPAZA), Zoe Molelekwaand Asher Gamedze, who appears on Angel Bat Dawid’s critically-acclaimed ‘The Oracle’ and whose debut album, ‘Dialectic Soul’, received universal acclaim upon its release in 2020; The Comet Is Coming’s Danalogue; Senegal’s highlyrespected Kora player, Tarang Cissoko as well as Balimaya Project’s Yahael Camara Onono. Collectively they’ve ascended their individual brilliance into an album that is variously warm and layered, full of tuff grooves, and steeped in moments of reflective transcendence.

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Rush Hour Store Record of the week W38:

Just imagine some of the best musicians of the contemporary South-African, Senegalese and UK jazz scenes getting together in the studio to create an album that celebrates the universality of music. That was what was supposed to happen here.

Then came the pandemic, making sure the plan had to be altered, dividing the kindred spirits into separate groups on different continents, sending the results of their spirited studio sessions back and forth for their overseas counterparts to react.

The result is an extraordinary album overflowing with creative ideas coming in from all angles. Ideas that are sometimes stacked on top of each other in layers to form a mouthwatering musical cake, but also allow a sneak peek into the kitchen - or kitchens - of this five star distant gathering.

Just look at that line-up, that includes tuba don Theon Cross, Alabaster dePlume, Siya Makuzeni (SPAZA), Zoe Molelekwa, Asher Gamedze, Kora virtuoso Tarang Cissoko and Balimaya Project’s Yahael Camara Onono - all forces that will not be held back by distance and time. Like the title of the three-part reflection on long-distance creation suggests, this is How To Make Art In A Pandemic 101. (RO) ⁣