Wh Open Arms to Open Us Ben LaMar Gay has solidified his place the firmament of the Chigo jazz renaissance.
Contents:
- BEN LAMAR GAY: DOWNTOWN CASTL CAN NEVER BLOCK THE SUN REVIEW – IMMERSIVE JAZZ NOVATOR
- BEN LAMAR GAY: OPEN ARMS TO OPEN US (INTERNATNAL ANTHEM)
- BEN LAMAR GAY
BEN LAMAR GAY: DOWNTOWN CASTL CAN NEVER BLOCK THE SUN REVIEW – IMMERSIVE JAZZ NOVATOR
* ben lamar gay review *
In an illumatg prologue to his send full-length album, Chigo stmentalist, poser, and volist Ben LaMar Gay wr of his doubts as to what he uld leave behd for “the young people my life” when faced wh “the cmblg of societal fas.
BEN LAMAR GAY: OPEN ARMS TO OPEN US (INTERNATNAL ANTHEM)
It’s a remarkable piece of mil pathfdg, sprawlg s ambn and surprisgly precise s attack, an album where a zher jam (“Nyuzura, ” featurg Brish-Rwandan sger Dorothée Munyaneza) giv way to triangle-assisted drone (“Slightly Before the Dawn”), which then ces the floor to hip-hop tuba bounce (“Drs Me New Love”) Gay’s visn of mil “Pan-Amerina”—reachg beyond the sawdt and sp image of classil Amerina to clu North and South Amerin culture—bds the project together. In addn to rich barone vols, an, balafon, r, zher, and a host of percsn stments, LaMar Gay also ntribut some fantastilly sharp songwrg on Open Arms, such as the geoly gloomy, mor-key dread of “Oh Great Be the Lake” and the grandiloquent “Aunt Lola and the Quail, ” a wealth of ias never g at the expense of all this, Open Arms is very much a llective work. Such is the se wh Chigo-based poser Ben LaMar Gay and Downtown Castl Can Never Block the Sun.
Over s 15 tracks, Gay plays out a palimpst of his prev work; llaboratns wh mutant funk tr Bottle Tree, jazz tmpeter Jaimie Branch and synth-loopers Bch Bajas.
BEN LAMAR GAY
Rather than leapg om genre to genre, Gay creat an immersive soundspe.
The new album by Chigo's Ben LaMar Gay is a wild ri through idms and styl, om hip hop and pop to ee jazz and bossa nova. On a smaller sle, rhythm is ma a central part of Ben LaMar Gay’s Open Arms To Open Us. Siarly, for Gay, rhythm be more than a skilled repetn of sonic gtur mic.
Until his 2018 solo breakthrough Downtown Castl Can Never Block The Sun, Gay was primarily visible as a prolific llaborator Chigo’s creative scene. A sense of warmth emanat om Gay’s lh croon, before a sliver of funk and a choir of distorted voic ph ‘Hood Rich Happy’ to a sort of btersweet groove. As an improviser, Gay posss a keen sense of eedom mic.