Eze Chimalio - The New African Jazz Biosphere (2019)

Eze Chimalio is a Nigerian trumpeter/cornetist who once played tenor saxophone with the quintet of jazzman Don Asante. But after leaving Asante’s group, Chimalio sold his tenor sax and learned to play the trumpet and the cornet (an instrument that is quite similar to the trumpet). And if Portraits of Blacks in Blue is any indication, taking up the trumpet and the cornet was a wise decision. Chimalio expresses himself well on those instruments, providing a predominantly instrumental jazz album that draws on avant-garde jazz as well as fusion and post-bop. Plus, he incorporates elements of African music at times.

Miles Davis, Don Cherry and Lester Bowie are among Chimalio’s direct or indirect influences on the trumpet and the cornet. Chimalio gets a lot of inspiration from Davis’ output of the late 1960s, when Davis was making the transition from post-bop to electric jazz-rock fusion. Davis’ work became increasingly electric and amplified as the second half of the 1960s progressed, drawing more and more on rock and funk. And one can clearly hear the Davis influence on Chimalio originals such as “Bougainvillea in Vase,” “Reflections on Patricide,” “If You Think You Know Me Well” and “The Problem Is You.” Davis has influenced Chimalio as both a trumpeter and a composer. Yet it would be a mistake to think that Davis is Chimalio’s only direct or indirect influence, and elements of Cherry and Bowie also assert themselves in Chimalio’s trumpet and cornet playing (which makes extensive use of space). Bowie, of course, was a major figure in Chicago’s avant-garde-oriented Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), whose extensive use of space was an interesting alternative to the more dense and abrasive avant-garde jazz that came from Cecil Taylor, Albert Ayler and post-1964 John Coltrane during the 1960s. The AACM favored a more nuanced approach to avant-garde jazz, and there is no shortage of nuance on “I Remember Halima (Kastina a la Mode),” “An Incident at the Shrine” or the African-influenced “Trans-Ekulu Express: House A” (which is not unlike something that the late Nigerian star Fela Kuti would have composed during the 1970s or 1980s). Kuti, who incorporated elements of jazz and funk and was influenced by everyone from John Coltrane to James Brown to traditional Nigerian players, was a major figure in African pop music.” And both rhythmically and melodically, one hears Kuti’s influence on “Trans-Ekulu Express: House A”

“Replay Mr. M” is the album’s lone vocal offering, and it is the only time on Portraits of Blacks in Blue that Chimalio steps outside of jazz. A moody reggae offering, “Replay Mr. M” finds Chimalio singing. And his Nigerian accent works well with the tune’s reggae beat.

Chimalio’s accompaniment on this album includes Monssef Chlif on electric guitar and percussion and Paola Cantachin on electric bass. Both of them help Chimalio bring some rock and funk muscle to the table, which is appropriate in light of Chimalio’s appreciation of fusion. On the haunting “Mangala Boko-No Go,” for example, Chlif and Cantachin both help Chimalio achieve a mood that recalls Miles Davis’ early fusion efforts such as In a Silent Way, Bitches Brew and Tribute to Jack Johnson. Those albums are all regarded as fusion classics, and it is that period of Davis’ long career that Chimalio identifies with on “Mangala Boko-No Go” (which also has some African influence).

Chimalio is hardly the first jazz improviser who changed instruments. The history of jazz is full of people who, for example, started out on piano before finding their way to the alto saxophone or started out on drums before deciding that the piano or clarinet would be a better fit. And on Portraits of Blacks in Blue, it is clear that Chimalio’s move from the tenor saxophone to the trumpet and its sister instrument, the cornet, is serving him well.