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Sun-Mi Hong: Fourth Page: Meaning of a Nest review | John Fordham's jazz album of the month
Ideas of migration and self-discovery inspire the latest album from Hong and her imaginative band, entwined with harmonies and delicate effects
The band’s signature sound of closely entwining brass and woodwind harmonies open the two-part title track: tenor saxophonist Nicolò Ricci and Scottish trumpeter Alistair Payne are improvisers of elegant shape and balance, and delicate thematic tone-painters, too. Soft horn sighs, cymbal flickers, and Italian bassist Alessandro Fongaro’s fast flutters colour the plaintive Escapism, Toddler’s Eye is a springy folk-dance and the suite A Never-Wilting Petal confirms this imaginative band’s talents for balancing storytelling with on-the-fly musical adventures. At the other end of the musical galaxy is Ledley (Impossible Ark), a electro-acoustic melange of tuba-like grooves, free-jazz sax lines, guttural noise and graceful choral tones from trombonist Raph Clarkson, former Led Bib saxophonist Chris Williams and electronicist/producer Riaan Vosloo.
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