Like many others, for me it was the 2018 album ‘We Out Here’ that alerted me to the delights of Kokoroko. That album was a collaborative effort recorded over three days by the various groups and collectives who, at the time, were being lauded as the exciting new heartbeat of jazz music to be found in London. Myriad amounts of the players were involved with many of the other bands on the roster, in fact the intermingling was pretty hard to keep up with at first, but over the past five years a raft of the musicians rose to the kind of wider prominence they deserve. The two most prominent members of Kokoroko were flugelhorn player Sheila Maurice-Grey and especially saxophonist Cassie Kinoshi who has enjoyed an ever-increasing profile in part, but not only, thanks to her wonderful work within the SEED Ensemble.

It could be down to snowballing opportunities to create within other set-ups that led to us waiting until 2022 for the first Kokoroko album. It says something of the esteem in which their contribution to ‘We Out Here’ was held, that expectation for this debut never ebbed away over four years, but then ‘Abusey Junction’ with its reported forty-nine million YouTube plays really was the outstanding track on that double record. It somehow encapsulated all that was riveting about the whole scene; the multiculturalism, the inclusiveness and the dedication to creating something magical in an improvisational space. That they could do this and end up with music that does not sound bland, repetitive or indulgent speaks to the proficiency of their musicianship.

The thing is though, for all the talk of the London Jazz Scene and the elongated back story of how the record came to be, when you get to the music it comes down to the simple fact that there are great tunes to be found here. ‘Age Of Ascent’ is a fine example, the rhythm has a nice little kick to it for sure, the electronic keys and vibes are, appropriately given the title, elevatory but the tune played on that saxophone and trumpet is simply lush. It sounds like a vintage jazz classic, a melody straight from the Blue Note or Prestige vault, but no, this is the central sound of Kokoroko and the reason why this album was so anticipated. Likewise, ‘Dide O’ which is carried by some Afrobeat guitar textures and divided by some lush vocal chapters, again it is those horn motions that take the tune into the realms of the celestial. It is thanks to Kokoroko and their growing number of allies that jazz music can legitimately claim, in 2022, to be the most vital and progressive music of modern times. As the band so rightly sing themselves, “something’s going on, something’s happening now.”

Buy a vinyl copy of the album here: https://www.discogs.com/release/24099788-Kokoroko-Could-We-Be-More

https://open.spotify.com/album/48e8LFqiVUxumlXDIVyNYl?si=BRqQh5YKTxOYDb1KFJyJ8A