Before we get into this, I just want to acknowledge that Jimi Tenor released an album last year titled Aulos. I intend to do a full review of it at some point, but I really don't know if I can do that without talking about his 2018 Afro-jazz record Order of Nothingness first. That record was my introduction to Jimi's sound, and it still is the jumping-off point for me concerning anything else he does. Also, Aulos is a very different record, and I still need more time to get my head around it. But that's enough preamble, let's get to the review!
Composing his nom de plume by combining the name of his childhood hero, Jimmy Osmond, with the name of his primary organ of expression, the tenor saxophone, Finnish player and songwriter Jimi Tenor has been a respected avant-garde musician throughout the global jazz scene for decades now. For his 2018 album Order of Nothingness though, he takes a step back from the spotlight in order to light a flame in tribute to indelible traditions afro-beat and afro-soul. The record sees the Helsinki denizen connecting with Berlin’s Ekow Alabi Savage and Max Weissenfeldt to punch up his rhythm section and bust out the boogie and make for an impeccable listening experience- one that is as catchy as it is embued with an ecclesiastic Earthiness. Order of Nothingness incorporates a number of experiments with obsolete electric keyboards that give many of these tracks a powerfully nostalgic vibe as well.
Two words come to mind when listening to this record: warmth and transcendence. Qualities that feel like they radiate and permeate your cells, bringing them to life all at once in a frantic arousal of the senses- like you've just gone from lounging in a hot spring to cannonballing into a frozen pond, and back again. Of like you've been induced to expel all your pours at once and are now taking in oxygen and respiration through a thousand newly cleared passages throughout your outer layers. The lyrics on this record are pretty special as well. All of them playing their role setting up inflection points of humility, love, observation, and curiosity, to compliment dynamic and psychedelic imbued hymns of melodic jazz, which Jimi's as brought forth. Each a beacon that burns brightly with the glow of global solidarity.
Buy Order of Nothingness from Philophon.
