Junius Paul gives us the jazz infused Ism, a collection of deep rooted songs that come from the soul, dragging decades of the genre's history along for the ride. It's more experimental and freeform than it is structured and ordered, but the music comes through raw and unfiltered...

Do you remember Jazz Club? The Fast Show sketch where jazz host Louis Balfour (John Thompson) brought us the best and worst (mostly worse) of jazz acts from around the globe. Well, this album's opener 'You Are Free To Choose' could so easily have been one of the jazz tracks featured. This encapsulates all the hallmarks of the stereotypical view of jazz by those who don't appreciate the genre. It just sounds like a group of musicians together in a room all playing very different songs.

And, as Ism, rumbled on, we returned to this style of track more often than not. Pieces like 'Baker's Dozen' and 'Paris' break up the monotony of the chaos, but it's just not enough to make this an album worth revisiting.

If you're a jazz novice this is not the place to get in the groove. This is one for hardened freeform and experimental jazz aficionados. Everyone else will spend the rest of the time constantly thinking of Balfour looking into the camera and saying: "Nice!"

4

Nick Smithson