Frank London & the Elders /
Spirit stronger than blood
Frank London & the Elders /
Spirit stronger than blood, 2023
CD, downloads available from Bandcamp and available from finer digital outlets everywhere.
It's always a project. There'll be a new Brass AllStars album with a theme, a new Klezmatics album, the score for a new production.... Here, things are a bit simpler. Frank London gathered some of his favorite musicians to play tribute to his jazz roots: the bebop and modern jazz masters like Monk and Gillespie, Pharaoh Sanders, Charles Mingus, and John Coltrane; musicians offering not just new beats and rhythms, but also a spiritual striving that serves us generations down the road. And, as always, London delivers soulfully.
The songs give the ensemble time to stretch out, strive. The band is stellar: Marilyn Lerner, who I first heard in a jazz context almost 30 years ago—long before I became familiar with her Jewish music; or Greg Wall, who I first heard with London on "Hassidic New Wave"; or long-time jazz stalwarts Hilliard Greene on bass and Newman Taylor Baker on drums, anchoring the rhythm section. They take their time and just soar. Especially London, loose and fluid, relaxed, and yet intense, strivingly intense, as on the title song, "Spirit stronger than blood," dedicated to the late Jewlia Eisenberg (who passed away from the same rare cancer that London is currently fighting).
This is a recording to put on and just listen to and enjoy. From the opening, soaring "Let there be peace", inspired by the Jewish prayer fragment, "Oseh Shalom" to the effusive "Abundant love" and the closing "Resistance/healing," the album is a worthy tribute to past masters, a triumphant prayer for healing, and a wonderful paean to life and the rhythms that give us life.
Reviewed by Ari Davidow, 30 December 2024 .
Personnel this recording:
Frank London: trumpet
Marilyn Lerner: piano
Hilliard Greene: bass
Newman Taylor Baker: drums
Greg Wall: sax (tracks 2, 3 & 4)
Songs
- Let There Be Peace 7:16
- Resilience 9:05
- Spirit Stronger Than Blood 7:58
- Poem for a Blue Voice 11:03
- Abundant Love 9:45
- Resistance/Healing 8:39
All music composed by Frank London
