Kinetika Bloco

“Legacy”

(Banger Factory Records – Bf002)

Mark Kavuma, Claude Deppa, Sheila Maurice-Grey, Lily Carassik, Ife Ogunjobi – trumpets

Nathaniel Cross, Misha Fox, Richie Seivwright – trombones

Mebrakh Haughton- Johnson – flute,  clarinet, bass clarinet

Sam Reyntiens - flute

Ruben Fox – soprano & tenor sax

Kaidi Akinnibi, Aneira Jenkins – alto sax

Nubya Garcia - tenor sax

Theon Cross, Kyle McInnis – tuba

Reuben James – organ, piano

Artie Zaitz – guitar

Sam “Blue” Agard, David Mrakpor, Paul Goumou – drums

David Mrakpor, Shayanna Dyer Harris, Andre Johnson, Keiran Pearson – percussion

Marlon Hibbert – steel pan

Shayanna Dyer Harris - vocals

Andy Grappy – spoken word

 

“Legacy” celebrates the work of Kinetika Bloco, a London based music charity founded in 2000 by the late musician, composer and educator Matthew John Fox, known to all as Mat.

The album liner notes describe Kinetika Bloco as an organisation “with a mission to get young people from South London engaged in long term creative activity, advancing their education, skills and capacity”. This embraces elements of music, drama, dance, design and leadership activities with the long term aims of helping young people to forge a career in the arts and to become mature and responsible individuals within the context of society as a whole.

Bloco was registered as a charity in 2010 and in 2016 became a Youth Company in Residence at the Southbank Centre. In 2018 it became an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation.

Bloco’s educational and outreach work represents an important strand in the cultural life of an increasingly diverse London. As performers they have appeared at numerous jazz festivals and performed at Notting Hill Carnival, the London Marathon, Bestival and at the 2012 Olympics. They even performed for the late Nelson Mandela, who variously described them as “charming” and “enchanting”. Notable collaborations have found Bloco linking up with artists such as AfroReggae, The Hot 8 Brass Band and Jerry Dammers. They have appeared on BBC Radio 3’s Young Artists Day and on BBC 1Xtra and have visited New Orleans to perform their own second-line.

Bloco runs regular summer schools and many of the rising stars of British jazz have passed through their ranks, with several staying on as ‘Bloco Leaders’, among them trumpeters Sheila Maurice-Grey and Mark Kavuma. Other Bloco Leaders include experienced jazz educators such as trumpeter Claude Deppa, tuba player Andy Grappy and drummer / percussionist Sam “Blue” Agard.

“Legacy” celebrates Kinetika Bloco’s 21st birthday and features some of the organisation’s most famous alumni. There’s a strong family ethos about Kinetika Bloco as the album liner notes again explain;
“Kinetika Bloco was founded on the idea that music is the language in which the spirit of community speaks. Over 21 years we have worked in accordance with this idea to infuse our community with joy, awareness and compassion. All the artists included on this album have at some point taken fruit from the tree and watered its roots. Today we celebrate our journey with this offering to both those who came before, and those who are yet to come”.

The album packaging includes brief biographies of the musicians on the disc, and also of Mat Fox and Andy Grappy. Mat Fox died in 2014 but his legacy lives on, celebrated in an essay by his son, saxophonist Ruben Fox that charts the musical history of his father and that of Kinetika Bloco as a whole. Ruben is now the leader of the Kinetika Bloco project, assisted by his trombonist brother Misha.

Mat Fox’s influence informs this whole album and he is pictured as part of the album packaging. His love of various strands of music is key to the whole Kinetika Bloco sound, which embraces elements of American jazz, soul, funk and hip hop, Caribbean calypso, reggae and salsa, Brazilian drum music, the Afrobeat of Fela Kuti, South African Township music, and of course the marching bands of New Orleans. Mat Fox also loved English folk music and European classical music, although the influence of these last two on the Bloco sound is less easy to discern.

“Legacy” includes three pieces written by Mat Fox specifically for the band, plus a further six pieces by other composers, who I’ll name as I examine the individual tracks. The album was recorded in July 2021 at Ben Lamdin’s Fish Factory studio in London and it represents the second release on trumpeter Mark Kavuma’s Banger Factory label, following his own recent” Arashi No Ato” album. Review here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/mark-kavuma-and-the-banger-factory-arashi-no-ato

Kavuma also acts as producer on “Legacy”.

In 2018 I enjoyed a performance by Kinetika Bloco at the Clore Ballroom at the Southbank Centre as part of that year’s EFG London Jazz Festival. It was bright, colourful, vibrant and inclusive and whetted my appetite for this album. My account of this performance can be found as part of my Festival coverage here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/efg-london-jazz-festival-friday-16th-november-2018

Bloco is justly proud of the now famous professional musicians who have progressed through its ranks, as the line up of rising stars listed above proves. As an organisation Kinetika Bloco’s status is right up there with that of the arguably better known Tomorrow’s Warriors in terms of significance and influence.

The pieces on “Legacy” are essentially big band performances and things get off to a rousing start with Emmanuel Franklyn Adelabu’s arrangement of the Duke Ellington classic “Caravan”. The piece has been in the KB repertoire since 2001 and the decision was made to revisit this arrangement from a former Bloco member.
Cross’s tuba bass lines lines, Zaitz’s ‘Shaft’ style guitar, James’ Hammond B3 and the patter of no less than four percussionists are distinctive components in an arrangement that embraces elements of funk alongside the more conventional jazz big band playing of the horns. The piece features the exuberant horn soloing of alto saxophonist Akinnibi and trumpeter Maurice-Grey alongside James’ surging Hammond.

“Remedy”, written by Ruben Fox and Sam Agard serves as a tribute to Brixton and to Jamaican culture. Agard’s drum groove, written in 2012,  underpins Fox’s melody and the piece finally entered the KB repertoire in 2016. Cross’  tuba again helps to turbo drive the tune, alongside kit drummer Agard and percussionists Dyer Harris, Johnson and Pearson. Stepping up to deliver incandescent solos are Garcia on tenor, Ogunjobi on trumpet and Seivwright on trombone, with Hibbert adding a dash of Caribbean authenticity on steel pan.

Trumpeter Claude Deppa’s “Commander’s Call” was composed in 2008 and is just one of several pieces that he has written for Kinetika Bloco. It explores the Maracatu rhythm of Brazil and is dedicated to the composer’s first born son, Otto. Ruben Fox’s vibrant and colourful arrangement highlights the talents of KB’s brass players with trumpeters Maurice-Grey, Kavuma, Deppa and Carassik exchanging ideas in playfully ebullient fashion, followed by the trombones of Misha Fox and Seivwright. And there, underpinning it all, are Cross’ astonishingly mobile tuba bass lines.

Emmanuel Franklyn Adelabu returns in the guise of composer with “Honesty”, which represents a welcome change of style and pace following the upbeat joviality of the first three numbers. It also reveals the versatility of Ruben Fox as an arranger, the mood here is more sombre, the timbres and colours dark and muted, with Haughton-Johnson’s bass clarinet a distinctive component. Another key element is James’ shimmering acoustic piano as he shares the soloing with Ruben Fox’s tenor as the music gradually gathers momentum.

“The Ted Williams Villanelle” is a short spoken word interlude in which a poem by Wendy Cope is recited by Andy Grappy. The poem takes its title from a quote by baseball player Ted Williams, “don’t let anybody mess with your swing”. It’s a maxim that can be applied equally to music, particularly jazz, and Mat Fox liked to use the poem as a motivational aid and it has re-surfaced in this capacity at various times during KB’s twenty one year history. Here it is read by tuba player Andy Grappy, one of Mat Fox’s oldest friends, a KB member who doesn’t otherwise appear on the album.

The next three musical items are all dedicated to the memory of Mat Fox.

First up is Kavuma’s “Papa Fox”, an effective blend of Township and gospel flavourings with James’ Hammond and Cross’s tuba both distinctive elements in the arrangement. These two work effectively with the featured soloist, the versatile and inventive guitarist Artie Zaitz, who is also a key member of Kavuma’s own Banger Factory group.

Mat Fox’s own “The Door of Breath” was originally written as part of Bloco’s 2006 adaptation of the St. Lucian poet and playwright Derek Walcott’s morality play “Ti Jean and his Brothers”. Arranged by Ruben Fox this is a poignant ballad that features the singing voice of Shayanna Dyer Harris, who also sang the song in the original production. James’ Hammond is at the heart of the instrumental arrangement.

“Guided By The Light” is an ensemble piece, written by Mat Fox in 2005. Powered by the twin tubas of Cross and McInnis and featuring the hand-claps of the ensemble the piece is a joyous celebration of Mat’s life and work. There are no featured soloists and the emphasis is very much on KB as a family or collective.  It even includes a spoken commercial for this, the then forthcoming album! Perhaps the album liner notes sum up the spirit of this performance best;
“Guided by the Light is a classic Mat Fox melody. Simple and joyous. The majority of us spent our childhood and teenage years playing these tunes so here we let loose and just enjoyed being together in celebration of his legacy and the history we share”.

The album concludes with the Mat Fox composition “Echoes of Palmares”, written in 2003 and part of the KB repertoire to this day. Introduced by a drum and percussion bombardment this arrangement by the Fox brothers is an infectiously funky offering featuring the sounds of punchy horns, chugging tuba bass lines, swirling Hammond and a veritable battery of percussion. It’s fitting that Misha Fox should take the first solo, his fruity trombone blasting followed by Kavuma’s ebullient high register trumpeting. The solos are completed with a percussion feature starring Andre Johnson.

Kinetika Bloco’s primary function remains education and outreach but this fine recording represents an excellent celebration of the charity’s work and of the life and legacy of founder Mat Fox. It’s more than just a party record, the compositions and arrangements are both vibrant and intelligent, vivid in terms of colour and highly rhythmic throughout. The various musical styles are a celebration both of Kinetika Bloco and of the cosmopolitan nature of London itself.

Credit is due to the composers and the arrangers and also to the players, the personnel listing including some of the real rising stars of British jazz. As Ruben Fox points out not all of these now famous alumni were part of KB at the same time, but all are infused with its spirit and the all star big band that was assembled for this début recording coheres magnificently.

I’d urge everybody reading this to purchase this album, not just to support Kinetika Bloco’s still ongoing educational and outreach programmes, but also because it’s a stimulating and enjoyable recording in its own right. There’s some terrific writing and playing here.

“Legacy” is available via the Banger Factory Bandcamp page;

https://bangerfactoryrecords.bandcamp.com/album/legacy

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