MUZORAMA 061026 / Modern electronic jazz

MUZORAMA 061026 / Modern electronic jazz

Jazz improvisation, electronic experimentation and dance-floor rhythm meet in this edition of MUZORAMA. Across eleven selections, musicians and producers explore what happens when the spontaneity of a performance enters the world of sampling, synthesis, editing and remixing. Recent releases, previews of forthcoming albums and rediscovered recordings form a journey through several connected musical communities.

“Modern electronic jazz” describes the territory rather than a fixed genre. The selection moves between Brit-funk, deep house, improvised soul, atmospheric electronics and music shaped by cultural memory. What connects these approaches is a willingness to let rhythm, texture and collective invention lead somewhere unexpected.

STR4TA opens that conversation with “Aspects (Demus Dub).” The partnership of Gilles Peterson and Jean-Paul “Bluey” Maunick draws on the independent spirit of British funk, while producer Demus brings the music into dialogue with dub and sound-system culture. Originally released in 2020 and revisited on Brownswood’s Twenty Years Deep compilation, the track establishes a connection between the edition’s contemporary sounds and the musical histories behind them.

That exchange continues with Ilhan Ersahin’s Istanbul Sessions and “Birds,” remixed by Kaan Duzarat. Ersahin’s project connects New York’s Nublu world with Istanbul’s musicians, bringing saxophone, bass, drums and percussion into a shared rhythmic language. The remix adds another perspective, placing the ensemble’s playing within an electronic framework.

Collective improvisation takes a different form on “Colour Is Harmony pt.2” by Alex Bonney, Tim Giles and Alcyona Mick. Their September release, Cascadian Echoes Suite, documents the trio’s first meetings, combining trumpet and cornet, drums, keyboards and synthesizers. References to documentary soundtracks, Don and Moki Cherry, electric Miles Davis and contemporary sound design help describe the breadth of their musical imagination.

Brittany Davis brings voice and an intimate ensemble dynamic into the selection with “Sun and Moon.” Its parent album, Black Thunder, emerged from two days of improvisation with bassist Evan Flory-Barnes and drummer D’Vonne Lewis. Alongside the edition’s electronic production, this music makes room for the immediate exchange between performers: listening, responding and discovering the shape of a piece together.

With corto.alto’s “IJUSTIDONTKNOW,” the focus turns to Glasgow-based composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Liam Shortall. Taken from September’s SOME SMALL FORTUNE, the track represents an approach in which band interaction and studio production develop together. Shortall’s expanding circle of collaborators reflects the openness running throughout this edition.

A particularly close connection links Jeremiah Chiu and Josh Johnson, both members of the Los Angeles quintet SML. Their individual recordings offer two perspectives from that shared creative community. Chiu’s “In Visibility” previews Edge Conditions, while Johnson’s “It Can Be Everywhere” introduces the forthcoming Animative. Both albums arrive later in October, making these selections a glimpse of what comes next.

Alex Albrecht’s “Intervals” opens another window. His album Hiriketiya developed through a residency in Sri Lanka, incorporating local collaborations and environmental recordings. Instruments, electronic sketches and sounds gathered from the surroundings become material for music shaped by a particular place.

The dance-floor connection returns through Trinidadian Deep & Bradford James’ “Spirits In Motion,” a 2014 recording newly featured on Compost’s Future Sounds of Jazz Vol. 16. Beside it, Shabaka’s “Ol’ Time African Gods” points towards a more recent transformation: the improviser working as a self-producing artist. The track began on an iPad sampling app, part of the exploratory process behind his 2026 album Of the Earth.

The selection closes with “MESTIZX” by Ibelisse Guardia Ferragutti & Frank Rosaly. Their collaborative work draws on ancestral connections to Bolivia, Brazil and Puerto Rico, exploring identity, ritual and the experience of belonging between cultures.

MUZORAMA 061026 follows these encounters across studios, cities and generations. Eleven tracks, with space for both discovery and return—and for the moments when familiar instruments begin to speak in unfamiliar ways.

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