Mama Terra - The Summoned (Digital Deluxe Extended Edition) (2004)

Signed following a tip-off from Christian Bragg of Jazz FM, Mama Terra is the brainchild of Glaswegian pianist and composer Marco Cafolla who wrote and demoed The Summoned during lockdown. Playing piano and bass keys, he used hip hop and modern American Jazz drummer samples to create a rhythm section.

Wanting to add an authentic N.Y.C. vibe to the album, the stems were sent to Orangefish Studio in Brooklyn, NYC where Derek Neivergelt (Terrance Blanchard) played upright bass and engineered the sessions along with Evan Pazner (Lee Fields) on drums, with guest trumpet solos from Jeremy Pelt (‘The Summoned’ and ‘A Mind Supreme’). These parts were all recorded live directly to tape with no edits.

Thereafter, Marco and his fellow Glasgow-based musicians – co-bandleader Konrad Wiszniewski, saxophones and flute; Mikey Owers, trombone; Cameron Jay, flugelhorn; and vocalist Rachel Lightbody – recorded their parts along to the N.Y.C. stems at Glo Worm Studios, Glasgow with Ross Saunders engineering and Marco producing, before mixing the album. It was then mastered by Dave Collins (D’Angelo - Black Messiah).

The Summoned is a conceptual journey through life and the universe. Beginning with ‘Ruptura’, born out of turning a negative experience into a positive one, the album travels through ‘Sunday’, a spiritual song inspired by the ‘big bang’ and mourning those whom Marco has lost on this sacred day of rest.

This is followed by the album’s title track. ‘The Summoned’ is a reference to the speed at which the songs came to Marco, as if he was being ‘summoned’, being gifted them through his love of jazz. It’s the second track on the album to feature an outstanding trumpet solo from Jeremy Pelt.

Continuing the exploration of being summoned, ‘Novo’ captures the excitement of a ‘new’ project, drawing on Freddie Hubbard’s ‘Povo’, that dusty playing and sound. Whilst ‘Radio Silence’ is an inward journey through lockdown – finding happiness, contentment, meditation and escapism in music.

Throughout the album soprano vocalist Rachel Lightbody adds exquisite lead lines and counter-melodies. These culminate in her lead vocal on ‘Last Hour’, a song about how “we should kick back, enjoy the meteor shower/ wash us away, dance in the rain / incase it’s all in vein.” A warning we need to take care of ourselves and our world. There is worry but more so, there is hope.

This incredibly ambitious and exciting debut album closes with ‘Like Tears In Rain’, inspired by some dialogue from the movie Blade Runner: “I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die.”