Rivers from Ogun

The French-Swiss quartet of organist Cédric Schaerer, drummer Hadrien Santos Da Silva, tenor sax player Arthur Donnot and guitarist Erwan Valazza came together in Zurich in 2016 to explore the music of Africa and its black Atlantic heritage in the Caribbean and the Americas. Add a contemporary jazz-rock sensibility and their debut album is a high octane collision of maloya, zouk, rumba, juju, Afrobeat and much else besides.

Sounding like a world music iteration of Weather Report or Return to Forever, opener ‘Soledad’ sets the tone, free jazz blowing over an explosive Afrobeat rhythm, Valazza’s John McLaughlin-like guitar duetting with Schaerer’s Hammond organ riffs, which draw inspiration from the likes of Jimmy McGriff. ‘Massalé’ is every bit as rhythmic but dreamier, a homage to the maloya of La Réunion. ‘Prez One’ is altogether softer, a swaying exploration of Caribbean styles. Like most jazz recordings, it’s an album that’s more about the blowing than the songs but the arrangements are strong and precise rather than built on improv and there’s a strong theme of justice and racial solidarity throughout, exemplified by ‘Hymn to Refugees’.