Soweto Kinch - The New Emancipation

The acclaimed alto saxophonist Soweto Kinch's 2010 album, which is now being reissued at mid-price. Mixing jazz with hip-hop influences 'The New Emancipation' features a prestigious international lineup, including Byron Wallen, Justin Brown, Eska Mtungwazi, Femi Temowo, Shabaka Hutchings and Harry Brown.

'The New Emancipation' draws its inspiration from 19th century work songs and early blues, exploring the modern resonances of the emancipation story. From debt/wage slavery, to creative oppression in the music industry and ideas of race in a post-Obama age, it combines this rich musical inheritance and revisits it with a stellar jazz ensemble and modern electronic production.

Citing influences as divergent as Duke Ellington, Madlib and Frederick Delius, Kinch plants the power and significance of the blues firmly with modern realities. The piece is both an ode and polemic, setting out to challenge the comfort and complacency of our modern world.

Personnel: Soweto Kinch (alto & tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, rap vocals, programming), Byron Wallen (trumpet), Shabaka Hutchings (clarinets, tenor saxophone), Harry Brown (trombone), Femi Temowo (guitar), Karl Rasheed-Abel (double bass), Justin Brown (drums), Eska Mtungwazi, Francis Mott, Jason MacDougall (vocals)