Hadal Deluxe Edition

This deluxe edition collects Texas-based jazz quartet Atlas Maior’s recorded output from the past four years. It’s an album of two halves – Side A is the band’s 2023 all-instrumental mini-album Hadal, and Side B is two tracks made with Pakistani kafi singer Ali Pervez Mehdi plus two remixes. Side A is the strongest, where the group really show what they’re capable of, the pieces built from the inspired interplay between alto saxophone and oud. There is strong influence from classical and folk traditions from across the Arab world, and there is a hearty debt to free jazz pioneer Ornette Coleman. It’s a great example of exploratory small-band jazz, with exemplary solos. After this glorious journey, side B falls a bit flat. Mehdi’s Sufi vocals are beautiful, but seem to constrain the free-flow of electric creative energy otherwise present. The remixes are similarly enjoyable while adding little.