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‘Scalding emotional intensity’: Geoff Dyer on the spiritual power of saxophonist Zoh Amba
Still only 23, the US saxophonist is channelling the free jazz pioneered by Albert Ayler in the 60s – and making hugely profound, wildly uplifting music
Amba, 23, grew up in Kingsport, Tennessee, 100 miles east of Knoxville and the residual homegrown influences in her sound – folk melodies, shards of gospel – perhaps serve a similar purpose for her marching bands and anthems did for the young Ayler in Cleveland, Ohio. Watch footage of Tommie Smith’s and John Carlos’s Black power salute on the Olympic podium in Mexico in 1968 overdubbed with Ayler’s Ghosts turned up loud and you will witness the validity of Cherry’s suggestion that the tune should be adopted as the American national anthem. I caught her live again in Brooklyn in October, thanks once again to Steve Gunn, who texted to say that he was playing with Amba alongside drummer Jim White (of Dirty Three) and Shahzad Ismaily on bass and keyboards.
Or read this on The Guardian