To say that Zoh Amba is making a sizable splash on the current scene is something of an understatement, as O Life, O Light, which features bassist extraordinaire William Parker and the brilliant drummer Francisco Mela, is one of three recordings coming out in 2022 with her name on the cover. Across three cuts (plus one short vinyl-only bonus) she more than holds her own on O Life, O Light, shining brightly throughout. The CD/ digital are available now and the vinyl arrives later this year.
Although currently based in New York City, tenor saxophonist and flautist Zoh Amba is originally from Kingsport, TN. Having moved up north to study with tenor titan and composer David Murray, along the way she attended the San Francisco Conservatory of Music for two years and more recently the New England Conservatory in Boston.
I’m eager to hear Amba’s debut recording O Sun, which was released by the Tzadik label on March 18 of this year. Along with Amba on tenor, the band on that CD is comprised of bassist Thomas Morgan, drummer Joey Baron, pianist Micah Thomas, and on one track, alto saxophonist and Tzadik head honcho John Zorn.
Did I say eager? Yeah. That’s an attractive lineup to be sure, but the primary reason I’m so amped up to hear O Sun is that Amba plays so exquisitely across O Life, O Light’s appealingly tidy runtime, and in a configuration that effectively emphasizes her music’s similarities to the fiery beauty of the great Albert Ayler. Specifically, both the trio lineup and the instrumentation here is the same as on Ayler’s cornerstone free jazz masterpiece, Spiritual Unity, though there is enough variation in the combined execution to avoid any insinuation of the imitative.
Now, anybody familiar with William Parker’s artistic trajectory, now hundreds of records deep, will not be a bit surprised that O Life, O Light ultimately follows its own path. Notably, Parker debuted on record in the band of second-generation firebreather Frank Lowe on the album Black Beings, a killer set released in 1973 by ESP-Disk, the same label that issued Spiritual Unity in ’65.
Cuban Francisco Mela was five years old or thereabouts when Black Beings hit stores, which is worthy of mention to illuminate the generational span of O Life, O Light, as Amba was born in April of 2000. Additionally, like a few other celebrated jazz drummers, Mela thrives across a wide spectrum of styles, having played with McCoy Tyner, Kenny Barron, Joe Lovano, John Scofield, Regina Carter, and Esperanza Spalding.
By my count, O Life, O Light is the fifth 577 release to feature Mela. What four of the five share is a trio set-up, so it’s no surprise that the triangular orientation on this album unwinds with natural ease. There is indeed mastery in the grooves, fruitfully interacting with a ceaseless current of youthful energy from Amba. And after time spent, the LP’s most impressive facet is the intermingled heft and sensitivity in the saxophonist’s playing.
If there is intensity, with Amba displaying no signs of the tentative, she also doesn’t overreach, conjuring both ache and skronk that substantiates the comparisons to Ayler. This likeness is pronounced but also nuanced, as there are a few brief moments in Amba’s playing that recall the melody in “The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost” from John Coltrane’s masterwork Meditations.
She also blows some terrific flute in “Mountains in the Predawn Light.” And if the skronk is potent, it’s those achy melodic strands that are really most important; blowing hard takes stamina, but without a progression of ideas, it’ll likely all end up just being bluster. That’s the thing; the great free jazz saxophonists, no matter how seemingly anarchic and aggressive they get, always have something deeper formulating under the surface. This is the ultimately the tradition Amba is working in, as O Life, O Light is at once a fully-formed musical statement and a declaration of promise to come.
And to that point, later this year 577 is scheduled to release Causa Y Efecto (Vol. 1), a duo set by Amba and Mela, on LP. I can hardly wait for that one. Until then and long after, the quality of O Life, O Light will hold firm. It’s a magnificent record.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A
