Wanderlist 329
Spiritual Jazz: A Modern Meditation Through Sound
As the sun sets on another Friday evening in Ghent, The Wanderlist embarked on a spiritual journey through the evolving landscape of modern jazz. This wasn't your typical meditation session – this was a two-hour exploration of how contemporary artists are reimagining spiritual jazz for the 21st century, weaving together threads of tradition with modern sonic tapestries.
Let's start with Lucien Johnson's "Magnificent Moon" – a piece that set the tone for our evening's expedition. Johnson's composition floats like celestial bodies in space, with saxophone lines that seem to trace constellations across the night sky. It's the kind of track that makes you wonder if Sun Ra was right about jazz coming from outer space all along.
Speaking of cosmic connections, Maisha's "Azure" took us deeper into the meditative realm. This London-based ensemble has become one of the torchbearers of the UK's thriving spiritual jazz scene, and "Azure" shows exactly why. The track builds like a prayer, starting with gentle percussion before ascending into a full-band revelation that would make Alice Coltrane proud.
One of the evening's revelations came from Ethiopia's own Kibrom Birhane. His track "Merkato" serves as a perfect example of how Ethio-jazz continues to evolve and influence the global jazz landscape. Named after Addis Ababa's sprawling open-air market, the composition captures both the ancient wisdom and modern vitality of Ethiopian music, with modal jazz harmonies dancing around traditional scales and rhythms.
Among the fresh offerings in our sonic sanctuary, Joe Armon-Jones' new album dropped "Lifetones" into our laps – a piece that exemplifies the London jazz scene's current creative peak. Armon-Jones has always had one foot in jazz and another in electronic music, but here he finds a perfect balance, creating something that feels both forward-thinking and deeply rooted in tradition.
Another recent release worth noting came from The Luna Lounge with their interstellar journey "Silent Screams in the Cargo Bay." This piece, along with Ryan James Carr's "Labyrinth," showcases how contemporary artists are pushing the boundaries of spiritual jazz into new territories, incorporating elements of ambient and electronic music while maintaining that essential meditative core.
As we traversed through Web Web's "Inner Revolution" and finally landed on Thee Marloes' sun-kissed "Summer," it became clear that spiritual jazz isn't just alive – it's evolving. Each track we played demonstrated how modern musicians are taking the foundation laid by pioneers like John and Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, and Don Cherry, and building new sonic temples for contemporary seekers.
The inclusion of artists like Ella Thompson with "Changes" reminded us that this music isn't just about technical prowess or theoretical complexity – it's about creating space for reflection, for connection, for spiritual awakening. Thompson's voice carries the same weight of purpose that we heard in the early days of spiritual jazz, just expressed through a modern lens.
In curating this journey, we aimed to show how spiritual jazz continues to serve as a vehicle for both personal and collective transformation. From the meditative opening notes to the final fade-out, each selection was chosen to create a continuous flow of consciousness-expanding sounds. Some might call it a playlist; I prefer to think of it as a musical map for the soul.
Whether you're a longtime aficionado of spiritual jazz or just beginning your journey, this edition of The Wanderlist offered something for every seeker. In times when the world seems to be moving at an ever-accelerating pace, these two hours reminded us of music's power to create spaces for contemplation, connection, and cosmic understanding.
Listen via Mixcloud
