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Review: 'NJE, The'
'Nought To 60'   

-  Label: 'Cargo Records'
-  Genre: 'Dance' -  Release Date: '12.6.21.'-  Catalogue No: 'FIT083LP'

Our Rating:
Nought To 60 is this year's Record Store day record from The Near Jazz Experience the now long running trio of Terry Edwards, Mark Bedford and Simon Charterton as they continue to explore grooves and music that is close to and influenced by jazz. For this mini album they get to pay tribute to Indo the pub they made the bands home gig between 2010 and 2019 when the pub closed, as well as to David Bowie alongside the title track that's a tribute to Terry Edwards turning 60 last year.

The A-side of the mini album is the Spirit Of Indo is a lush tribute to the bands residency at Indo a very cool pub in Whitechapel almost opposite the mosque. While Mark Bedford and Simon Charterton lay down the sinuous groove and laid-back beats Terry Edwards decorates the track with his Muted trumpet and soprano and alto sax that veers from Chet Baker beauty through to multiple horn parts as if he's playing two saxes' at once, as he often did in that hot sweaty pub, as you can't help but groove along with them. This tune has several phases but never loses the central groove they work around, that makes this in parts a bit of a jazz funk groove sensation with afro-beat edges.

The B-side opens with their instrumental cover of David Bowie's Five Years a song that is far more poignant after a year of the pandemic where it really has seemed like we might only have Five Years left, this is played slow, with utmost restraint, that sounds perfect for a torch singer to sing over, although it is moving enough as an instrumental.

Tizita is apparently inspired by Terry's work with Mulatu Astatke and has an Afro-jazz sensibility about it and Simon Charterton's drumming has a more bongo style percussive feel to it with some lovely flute coming in, as well as the glorious sax lines that wouldn't be out of place in Salah Ragab's Cairo Jazz band.

The mini album closes with Nought To 60 that sounds like they are revving up to race each other from Whitechapel down to Southend with the beats working like they are tearing it up and grooving down that road as the saxes get all squiggly and the bassline gets more and more intense as it repeats and the tune builds like your headed into a bend at 60 mph and have taken your hands off the wheel, there's a sense of danger and not quite knowing how things will end but damn this is seriously groove centric.

Find out more at https://www.facebook.com/NearJazzExperience https://thenje.bandcamp.com/ https://sartorialrecords.bandcamp.com/

  author: simonovitch

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