For his fifth album, London jazz iconoclast Alfa Mist churns out an unforgettable long player chock with hard-bop, broken-beat, African Soul, British Hip Hop, all underpinned with progressive improvisations. His stunning keyboard work permeates throughout from Rhodes, to Synths, to Piano, while his compositional scope runs from bedroom styled electronic works, to ethereal Nordic Jazz, to modern Fusion. This is the in-sound of contemporary Jazz at the moment, with the composer equally at home working within the framework of Drum and Bass, Third Stream, as well as with modern urban rhythms.

“Forward” starts things out on a Post-Bop Freddie Hubbard tip with punchy horns and symphonic instrumental counter points. “Cycles” channels a certain Norwegian Jazz label in it’s chilly reserve and dreamy sensibilities as does the mystifying “Gist”. The title track is equally as flowing with it’s slow building feel that soon reveals a fiery guitar solo midway though followed by stunning horn work towards it’s head reprise. “BC” is the highlight here for me, with it’s retro Jungle rhythms coupled with soulful melodics. For an album made by a keyboardist, there is a quite a fair bit of tasty trumpet soloing as well as Metheny-esque guitar phrasing throughout. I can also hear shades of Ellington as well as Miles in these works. Alfa has been one of the leading lights in the current London Jazz sound and continues to push things forward with each new project that he leads. Highly recommended!

https://alfamist.bandcamp.com/album/variables

https://alfamist.co.uk/