Incredibly special cassette/digital album from the Chicago-based “composer, clarinetist, singer & spiritual jazz soothsayer”.
A project full of warmth, experimentation and emotion, recorded solo for the most part, at home in Chicago or impromptu on tour in London & Capetown, straight to cell phone. Melodious clarinet riffing, pianos, overdubbing, singing – both operatic & gospel, sometimes at the same time, and the poetry of Margaret Burroughs all feature.
A truly “ancient to future” cosmic jazz album with heavy roots, recalling Sun Ra, Yusef Lateef, The Art Ensemble of Chicago and still further back, but at the same time looking forward, especially technologically, and crucially it projects a very poignant impression of black experience today in America.
Release Info
Composer, clarinetist, singer & spiritual jazz soothsayer Angel Bat Dawid descended on Chicago’s jazz & improvised music scene just a few years ago. In very short time, the potency, prowess, spirit & charisma of her cosmic musical proselytizing has taken her from relatively unknown improviser to borderline ubiquitous performer in Chicago’s avant-garde. On any given night you can find Angel adding aura to ensembles led by Ben LaMar Gay, or Damon Locks, or Jaimie Branch, or Matthew Lux, or even, on a Summer night in 2018, onstage doing a woodwind duo with Roscoe Mitchell. For her recorded debut on International Anthem, The Oracle, we’ve chosen to release a batch of tracks that Angel created entirely alone – performing, overdubbing & mixing all instruments & voices by her self – recorded using only her cell phone in various locations, from London UK to Cape Town RSA, but primarily from her residency in the attic of the historic Radcliffe Hunter mansion in Bronzeville, Southside, Chicago.
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