Review Summary: Fusing composition and improvisation, Tavares and Whitty deviate from BBNG to create a journey with no clear start or end.
BADBADNOTGOOD was a cool band. Making jazz hip (hop) again at the beginning of the 2010s, they first gained recognition for their Odd Future or Nas jazz covers, before slowly reducing the amount of covers to focus on their own original material.
BBNG was the precursor, too green and evident on its influences at times, yet always exciting.
BBNG2 and
III were the band's apex, as both albums added electronica and post-rock to their music to challenge jazz's future. Although the collaborative album with Ghostface Killah was more promising than actually great, at least it allowed the band to add yet another dimension to their music. It was thus quite a shame the last album released with all four members (acutely titled
IV) was more of a snoozefest than what the fans expected. Now, in 2020, two of the members decided to let go of their usual way of doing to release an organic and live hour of jazz.
Both men were part of BBNG at some point: Whitty joined in 2016 after being featured in
BBNG2 and
III, and Tavares, a founding member, left the band in 2019. While they are accompanied on some tracks by Julian Anderson-Bowes on bass and Matthew Chalmers on drums, this is Tavares'n'Whitty album. Yet, one should not dive into this album expecting the traditional BBNG sound, i.e. modern jazz that takes influence from post-rock, electronica and hip hop, both in terms of sound as well as composition. One criticism might be that they lost their edge, as this record is less unique and original than their (previous) band. However, artists must be lauded when they successfully get out of their formula to come up with a new aesthetic.
This aesthetic is deeply linked with the composition's process: the whole lot was almost entirely recorded and performed in one hot take, and while some albums recorded that way have a more intensive knack than usual, this one truly breathes, yells and cries. As they decided to add impressionist classical music to their compositions, an added mystic vibe surrounds the whole record, making this a deranged yet comforting piece that Lovecraft would have had trouble describing. The urgency feels alive, the pounding moments are the most powerful the two musicians ever created, and when they decide to restrain their work, a newfound sweetness comes in. The sax caterwauls, the piano and guitar softly laugh, the bass purrs and the drums bark.
Emotion and vulnerability indeed are the core of this album. As the two musicians have played with each other for ten years, they intuitively match each other's endeavours. Sometimes Whitty takes the lead with the saxophone or the flute, sometimes Tavares' piano and guitar are the centrepiece of a track. This free-flowing approach help them transcend the already composed material: the improvised parts are the ones where all four musicians unite together in a raw and honest way.
It would not do justice to the album to detail each of its tracks. It's a total experience, conceived as such by two artists who wanted to free themselves from the usual canons of their traditional method of composition. We sometimes hear or say sentences like
the album is more than the sum of its parts. Here, it's the opposite: each track is but a part of a whole, building on the previous composition and laying the foundations for the next one.
Put simply - yet in an extremely rave way - this is a magical record. The main reason is its ambition, but that would not be worth a penny if Tavares and Whitty did not give themselves the means to achieve said ambition by letting already-composed material shine live thanks to their synergy. On top of that, what might be futile yet is so darn important: it leaves a huge smile on the face.
With hints of Talk Talk, Alice Coltrane and Miles Davis, the two BADBADNOTGOOD members come up with an album that, perhaps, won't break or make jazz. But they released their most honest and vulnerable work yet, and that alone merits to be saluted. You can go home, Kamasi.
