AKA MOON

add another halfstar . I am a fan of jazz giant John Coltrane especially on the Impulse Label era and A Love Supreme (with his astounding quartet; fabulous McCoy Tyner on piano and the immense Elvin Jones on drums) ranks in my top ten all styles included. What Aka Moon did on this first album sounds like if this was Coltrane in the 70's (the MAN died in 67) as Fabrizzio Cassol is clearly studying the master and the other are right up there. So One can think that If Coltrane had not moved into free jazz before his death , he would have sounded like this (minus the piano) . Even with this Homage to TRANE , this remains a masterfull piece of cd as this trio is simply flabbergasting in technique and feeling.

What a pleasure to see Aka Moon here ! The great trio never did something as good as this first effort, even when you count their second rightfully titled "Rebirth" as they give on this one a new light upon the existing material presented here. Further developments will see Aka Moon pairing with african percussion, indian percussion or guitar... Only the context will change, the only way the band found to sound a bit different everytime. But on this record, inspired by their trip to the Aka Pygmies territories, the first Aka Moon is to be experienced like a journal into modal writing and evermoving structures. Rhythm section (Earth) played by Michel "call me Jaco" Hatzigeorgiou and Stephane "four arms three legs" Galland is both solid and flexible. Take a listen to their impossible time signatures and you'll get the point. Fabrizio Cassol (Spirit) and his alto saxophone have an oblique way of printing melodies in your brain, but once it's done it's too late to escape. If you can stand hip hop and slam technique, i urge you to discover Greetings from Mercury, another out jazz band from Belgium with Stephane Galland on drums and Steven Segers on vocals (son of Guy Segers' Univers Zero).