– THE MILITARY COUP –

It’s going some when a jazz musician has played with Dizzy Gillespie, Stan Getz and Herbie Hancock and yet I’m able to confidently predict that their latest release will be their most formative work.

But in new album Waiting Game Massachusetts-born drummer, singer and musical educator Terri Lyne Carrington has done just that.

Featuring tracks titled things like Pray the Gay Away and No Justice (for Political Prisoners), the piece as a whole is a deeply affecting and poignant statement on life in contemporary America.

But debut single Trapped in the American Dream is an undeniable highlight.

Featuring vocals from friend of this parish, Kassa Overall, the track is a slow burner, but burn it does. Right from the off, it simmers with rising anger, present in every note from keyboardist Aaron Parks and guitarist Matthew Stevens.

However, it’s in Overall’s performance – a late addition to the track by all accounts – that the track ascends. Known for his easy, effortlessly eccentric demeanour (I described his track La Casa Azul as “full-fat jazz, fully-loaded hip-hop, 110% of the average jazz tune and more hip-hop than a drop-top ’64 Impala” when I reviewed it back in March), here he’s swapped his cool for quiet rage… and he’s never been so vital nor visceral.

Waiting Game is out today through Motema Music.

MORE FROM THIS WEEK’S MIX

DA LATA: THUNDER OF SILENCE
YELFRIS VALDÉS: ANCESTRY
THE KUTIMANGOES: MONEY IS THE CURSE
JULIA KENT: SALT POINT

P.S. You can find all of the tracks reviewed above in the 45 Revolutions per Minute playlist below or click to access the 45 RPM Playlist on Spotify itself.

If you like what you hear (or even if you don’t), please engage in dialogue with me @45rpm_Reviews on Twitter. And, if you’d like to receive updates weekly, please subscribe to the email list to get these recommendations sent to your inbox weekly.

– SV –