IMI Kollektief - Snug as a Gun (2006)

If you still think jazz is an American music, think again. This is jazz indeed, and none of the artists involved was born on the United States. A Brazilian, tenor saxophonist Alípio Carvalho Neto, a Belgium, vibraphonist Elsa Vandeweyer, a French, trumpeter Jean-Marc Charmier, and two Portuguese, bassist João Hasselberg and drummer Rui Gonçalves (with another Brazilian on one track, zabumbist and singer Paulo Matricó), play this New World turned All World music, and they do it with drive and purpose. And no, this is not a proof of the so called American Imperialism or a consequence of the economical Global Age we’re living in – simply put, there’s no boundaries for creative music. “Snug As a Gun” is not an experimental record, but the sax can be polyphonic and the vibes deal with free harmonics more than you would expect from something under the jazz banner. With the rhythm section grooving and swinging like hell on the back, compositions (themes by all IMI members) functions only as the margins for a improvisational work that likes to go through secondary water courses, zig-zaging along the way. There’s an Afro-Brazilian flavor in this music, of course (have you ever listened to a Brazilian musician who wouldn’t sound, well, Brazilian?), but these sounds are universal and could have been imagined and played by anyone around the planet. Or almost anyone, namely all those who feel that inovation, and the development of a distinct identity, doesn’t imply a disrespect of the tradition. The IMI Kollectief takes the history of jazz, without renegating anything, and builds from it. “Ancient to the future”, that’s what this music is.