In 1978 it was "God save the Queen, she ain't no human bein'". Forty years on, Sons Of Kemet make a similar statement with more subtlety in the music, but less in the title.
This band was a recommendation from an assistant at HMV, back in the days when they had people working for them who cared about music, and weren't a glorified tat shop.
I can't remember what I was buying but it was a definite, "if you like this, you'll enjoy Sons Of Kemet". So I took his advice, and he was spot on.
Rather than celebrate Her Majesty, these nine pieces, all beginning with My Queen Is... commemorate real people, strong women from the black community.
Opening piece My Queen Is Ada Eastman (composer and sax player, Shabaka Hutchings' great-grandmother) features a duel between the tuba of Theon Cross and Hutchings' sax, over an African beat, with an angry spoken vocal powerfully making the point. My Queen Is Mamie Phillips Clark has an almost reggae sound, with some fantastic sax playing, while My Queen Is Harriet Tubman is a little more funky, but no less wonderful. My Queen Is Anna Julia Cooper, is much slower, the high pitched sax reminding me of Portico Quartet, but it gets much more lively for My Queen Is Angela Davis. It's back to a more reflective mood for My Queen Is Nanny of the Maroons, before My Queen Is Yaa Asantewaa, a bright, almost march-time piece. The album finishes with two exciting, frenzied pieces to finish, firstly My Queen Is Albertina Sisulu, and some fantastic sax over a growling beat combined with powerful vocals about the failings of the English justice system in My Queen Is Doreen Lawrence.
This is a fantastic album, hugely powerful lyrically, while still sounding like the finest of contemporary London jazz.
5* - a fantastic album from start to finish, the best in innovative contemporary London jazz
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