A couple of days ago, UK music writer and journalist Chris May died in London. His friend and ex-Fela Kuti manager Rikki Stein emailed SoSaLa this sad news. SoSaLa got to know Chris via the Jazz webpage or platform, All About Jazz, when he was looking for a writer for last year’s 1993 album.
Luckily, Chris agreed to review it.
“…SoSaLa’s message to the media announcing the release of this 1993 recording starts with the headline: “A Noisy Voice Again With Powerful Messages” and ends with the observation: “Doing nothing and staying passive are unacceptable.” You can say that again in 2023, as much of jazz, like much of the rest of liberal, educated America, appears—at least as viewed from London—to have rolled over and given in to the seemingly inexorable march of domestic neo-fascism, which will hit the fan with the 2024 elections. Where is the tidal wave of opposition? Why is rap and rock left to do the heavy lifting? What happened to jazz’s rebellious nature?
1993 is loud, aggressive, primal, confrontational, as nuanced as a honey badger and what else have you got? It is a ferocious blend of late-period no-wave and free jazz… Basically, 1993 puts the art in cathartic. …” – By