Joshua Jaswon Octet - Silent Sea (2020)

Ubuntu Music is delighted to announce the signing of the Joshua Jaswon Octet, featuring a broad cross-section of exceptional young musicians throughout Europe.London-born saxophonist and composer Joshua Jaswon has undergone something of a transformation over the past three years. Following the disastrous results of Britain's 2016 Brexit referendum vote, Joshua took the decision to leave London for Berlin and set about establishing himself in Europe's creative hub and heartbeat. This journey of musical discovery has led to collaborations with artists from Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam and Copenhagen and the formation of the Joshua Jaswon Octet. Using powerful poems of protest as the basis for its music, the Octet's distinctive sound is lyrical, intensely rhythmic and steeped in the magic of storytelling. Their ambitious long-form compositions are brought to sonic life in Joshua's first release for Ubuntu Music, Silent Sea, and feature the outstanding Dutch vocalist, Anna Serierse.Each composition of the album is based on the text of a contemporary British poem, by writers Jackie Kay, Maura Dooley and Rachael Boast. The poems deal with the themes of Brexit and the environment and the album's title originates from Boast's poem.Although Joshua has for many years been interested in the manifold relationships between literature and jazz - he cites writers such as Albert Murray, Stanley Crouch and Ralph Ellison as early musical influences - this is the first project where the composer has actively used text and written for voice. Poet Laureate Jackie Kay's response to the project reflects Joshua's talent and intuition for this area of composition:"It is moving, fresh and thought-provoking and the music perfectly mirrors the poem's anxiety and satirical humour. The jazz music fits the poem like a hand to a glove, and the rhythms and tempos capture the heightened sense of time running out, of seizing the moment. It's a pleasure for a poet to have their words so thoughtfully put to music. I'm delighted with the result .