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Recorded Zubop Order a Recording ZubopGambia ZG feat Molara Tekezze Hiptodisiac Freewheeling Cycle City  Background Reactions Write a review! |
Reviews of Cycle City...From: Trade Wind World Music Review, 1993ZUBOP - Cycle City First release by a young London-based jazz/world influenced outfit who are currently gigging busily around the country and have also developed a big following in Germany. Their material's heavily influenced by S. African styles but Latin and Caribbean tinges are in evidence too. It's all carried off at a fresh and catchy pace with plenty of musical and tunesmithing skills too. Recommended. P.M. From:www.nestor.minsk.by/jz/cd0514.htm ZUBOP - Cycle City If you listen carefully, music always evokes in one's imagination some kind of graphic images, under whose influence diverse associations also arise... If one were to try to define in a few words one's impressions of the musicof the group 'Zubop' from this record then I would choose the word 'carnival'. It is a joyful, cheerful, whimsically colouful kind of music out of which emerge, as if from behind a carnival mask, the folklore motifs of various peoples on our planet. And simultaneously it contains everything which is inherent in modern jazz - swing, an improvised beginning, and the almost physically perceptible joy which the musicians get from playing together. The way the album is put together gives one this impression. The music is played by British musicians, and the way they perform fundamentally destroys the stereotype of the dry, cold, impeccably- dressed English gentleman, like Soames Forsyth, and reminds one of unrestrained fantasy, splendour and the philosophical depths contained at times in very simple forms (e.g. Milne, Tolkien or Carroll), very often inherent in the British. The basic core of Zubop consists of trumpeter and trombonist Will Embling, alto sax and flautist Ricky Edwards, tenor sax and clarinetist Jon Petter, pianist and accordeonist Philip Clouts, bass guitarist Duncan Noble and drummer Cliff Venner. In two numbers Lindon Donaldson plays, and there are appearances by percussionist Gary Hammond. The spirit of carnival is especially apparent in the song 'Five Fingers Only' where the mix of the sounds of Latin American percussion , European accordeon and the celebratory clear saxophone and trumpet evoke the image of motley crowds of mummers, dressed in the colourful costumes of various nations. 'Cuba Si' - with its virtuoso piano passages, the friendly saxophone game in unison with the summons to dance from the energetic rhythm of the percussion - is a festival-fairytale on a far-flung Caribbean island. All the pieces have been written by the performers. One was co-authored by Edwards and a musician of African origin who lives in England, Bheki Mseleku , and it's called "Bheki's Arrival". Its almost classical multi-part structure and the purely jazz performance of the soloists make this composition another one of the record's adornments. The three last pieces, including the title track, have a slightly different mood. The party atmosphere is gradually dispelled and the jazz returns to everyday life in large cities - including the piece 'Cycle City'. The album was rcorded in 1991. Unfortunately it doesn't say on the record when it was released. But from the catalogue number you can judge that it is one of the very first put out by "33 Records". It's a good beginning. It is no surprise that today this company is one of the leaders on the jazz market in Great Britain. They understand jazz there. Leonid Auskern [as transliterated] Translated by Katherine McAleer
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