Ronald Langestraat - Light Years Away (2022)

Eighty-one-year-old keyboard player Ronald Langestraat leans into dance rhythms on "Light Years Away", an electro-flecked Latin jazz album that's somewhere between Chick Corea and Dâm-Funk. It's only recently that Ronald Langestraat has begun to dance. At 81, he was finally gripped by the urge: "I'd always admired it in the past, but just wasn't able to move like that," he explained. So "Light Years Away" is his musical response, a collection of music that may have been written a long time ago, but has been reinterpreted by young players. That's not to say it's dance music as we might understand it now, but it's funky material that's occasionally visited with less familiar elements. 'Working Every Day' is outsider pop that's rooted in jazz, and Langestraat's voice is elevated by a beat that sounds out of place in the best way. Lengthy 11-minute track 'Mambo Magic' is a particular highlight, with a double-speed beatbox rhythm that starts off like it could tip into Tanzanian energetic fury before taking the high road into fusion.

Tracklist:
1.01 - Ronald Langestraat - Energy In Space (2:39)
1.02 - Ronald Langestraat - Working Every Day (4:16)
1.03 - Ronald Langestraat - Double Star I (2:45)
1.04 - Ronald Langestraat - Double Star II (2:05)
1.05 - Ronald Langestraat - Double Star III (2:12)
1.06 - Ronald Langestraat - Chet Baker (1:50)
1.07 - Ronald Langestraat - Mambo Magic (11:00)
1.08 - Ronald Langestraat - Alpha Centauri (4:12)
1.09 - Ronald Langestraat - Freedom (5:23)