Sam Kirmayer - In This Moment (2022)

As much of the world moves into what bloviating prognosticators have, for the last twelve or so months, been calling the “new normal,” we begin to see (and hear) the artistic aftermaths and reflections of a post-lockdown era. With bottled up creativity now runneth over, our human need to both create and consume the burgeoning artefacts of post-pandemic artistic expression is amped up and underway. Next, I suppose, will be the rush to identify which creations are the “Kind of Blue,” “Great Gatsby” or “Starry Night(s)” of the “After Times” epoch. But, and until then, what good fortune to be able to drink deeply from all that the current creative renaissance has on offer, enjoying what holds the promise to be a flowering of artistic statement neither seen nor heard in decades. In jazz alone, the output has been voluminous, the benchmark high and the casting—as the world both welcomes and demands greater and more equitable representation of intersectional diversity and increased access to a proverbial “seat at the table”—rich.

Sam Kirmayer – guitar
Al McLean – tenor saxophone
Muhammad Abdul Al-Khabyyr – trombone
Sean Fyfe – piano
Alec Walkington – bass
André White – drums