All The Quiet (Part I) from Joe Armon-Jones is an excellent jazz album with dub and hip-hop influences. Armon-Jones is also the keys player in one of my favorite Euro jazz bands, Ezra Collective, who put out one of my top albums of 2024 (Album Review: Dance, No One’s Watching from Ezra Collective). The Part II album will be released in approximately 3 months.
All The Quiet is mostly groove-oriented with some marching band influences. The album mixes an array of stylings. There are some propulsive funky tunes with the stunning horn section, notably Lifetones, Foregiveness, Nothing Noble and The Citadel. The two tracks, Kingfisher and Eye Swear, featuring vocalists Asheber and Goya Gumbani, respectively, are also standouts with totally different approaches, one anthemic and the other more trippy. The remaining tracks showcase the acid jazz chops of the core group, including Natcyet Wakili on drums,
Mutale Chashi on bass and Kwake Bass on percussion. The mix makes for a top-shelf, entertaining album. Here’s my track-by-track coverage.
All the Quiet (Part I) was, “Entirely written, produced and mixed by Armon-Jones himself, its two instalments showcase Armon-Jones’ prodigious talents as a pianist, improviser and songwriter, while opening his music’s rich soundworld up to the influence of dub techniques.
You can trace the genesis of All The Quiet back to lockdown, when in search of a creative distraction, Armon-Jones decided to teach himself how to use a mixing desk, inspired by his love for the radical productions of King Tubby and the feeling of experiencing a live dub sound system in the flesh. Before long he’d built a home studio complete with reel-to-reel tape machines and spring reverb and was experimenting with mixing his own solo and ensemble recordings, testing out the results on his friends’ Unit 137 sound system in nearby Lewisham. The methodology, he discovered, wasn’t so different from jazz improvisation. “I got really into exploring the soundworld of dub,” explains Armon-Jones. “Taking that process and applying it to jazz, funk, and all those other musics that I really love.”
Track-By-Track
Lifetones starts with wind-chime and airy synth sounds, setting the stage for a dreamlike main theme march. The rhythm section is full pocket play right from the get-go, and the repeat synth pattern is super catchy. By the time the horns come in at around the 2-minute mark, I’m all in on this tune and the whole album vibe. The procession-like rhythm is perfect for JAJ to meander along the path with the melody. Halfway through, he dances around with the drum and bass in a light, graceful, and playful way. The second chorus of horns comes in near the 7-minute mark, an effective punctuation mark on the section. It’s an auspicious kickoff to the album.
Foregiveness starts with a chant and some flowing horn repeats driving an entrancing A-section. There’s a terrific sax solo that enters as the main voice with the flowing ethereal base. The third section has JAJ conjuring up a fine electric piano section. The horns pick up the lead for a bit of symmetry to the song with the closeout further development of the theme. It gives me a feeling of walking through an enchanted forest.
Kingfisher (feat. Asheber) is a beautiful, plaintive ballad with Asheber on vocals. It’s a story about a ghetto revolution to raise its people with some of the lyrics “A change gonna come, We plan for revolution, Where I come from, Ghetto of the city, Is where I come from.” The “where I come from” refrain is the focal point that all concepts and possiblilties spring from. The tune has a forward, processional sensation and, despite the seriousness of the topic, sounds calm and optimistic in its matter-of-fact tone. JAJ takes the lead around the midpoint with the precision of drummer Natcyet Wakili and bassist Mutale Chashi absolutely nailing it. The cause of optimism is reflected in the multi-repeated line, “We don’t die we multiply.”
Nothing Noble opens with a gliding horn and keys theme, then comes to a rolling stop. JAJ takes the lead, and there’s terrific work from Wakili and Chashi as well. They’re sleekly cruising along when Ife Ogunjobi has a magnificent extended trumpet solo. The main theme provides a cushy ride to the end that again features the great percussion/chime work from Kwake Bass.
Eye Swear (feat. Goya Gumbani) is a hip-hop/rap featuring Goya vocals. It’s got a trippy montage feel. The lyric is “lost in a maze, stuck in your ways” and the combination evokes a bit of psychedelia.
Danger Everywhere starts with some Darth Vader-sounding voices interlaced with calming percussive piano melodies. When the voices subside, you’re enveloped with the remaining mystical feeling and the cymbals swirling left to right and back.
The Citadel takes us back to a soothing horn and piano jazz groove. This one could be a throwback to something like the Jazz Crusaders, a nice balanced feel with some extra sauce sprinkled in. JAJ has a bright solo midway, taking off in several directions, then periodically touching base with the head. The horns and Joe dance along intertwined to the end and I really appreciate Joe’s piano work. The closeout with the chimes is a nice touch – this one is a highlight for me.
Snakes kicks off with an amazing bass line from Mutale. Joe is melding nicely with the rhythm section, and the horns take us for a few laps. Joe picks up the lead just over a minute, and the bass and drums are set on cruise control. This is as comfy as a Caddy convertible on the open highway. Towards the middle, the tempo slows with some lyrics with more funky support from the trio. There’s another changeup at the two-thirds region with a more distant, low-key, heavy steppin’ eerie ride to the end.
Show Me is a short interlude with the chant “show to the light” with a feel like the late great Roy Ayers.
Hurry Up & Wait melds in quickly from the prior track and starts with an upbeat melody from Joe nicely balanced by the rhythm section. It’s more of a traditional jazz fusion trio piece with Joe taking the crew along a myriad of paths with a constant forward motion to a soft landing.
The Musicians
Joe Armon-Jones: keyboards, composer
Natcyet Wakili, drums
Mutale Chashi, bass
Kwake Bass, percussion
Nubya Garcia, sax
James Mollison sax
Ife Ogunjobi. trumpet
Photo: Marco Grey
