Review Summary: Paradise found.
I was going to write a long and beautiful review for this record. It was going to feature all sorts of hyperbole and fancy words. It was going to be my labor of love to an album that quickly became one of my all-time favorites. I couldn’t do it. No matter how hard I tried, the words just didn’t hit quite right. I’ve never been particularly good at describing an album I truly admire, because at a certain point it feels like describing it almost qualifies the impact of the music itself. The only way to describe this record properly would be to tell you to listen to it.
That being said, I can say this: This record reminded me of why I appreciate music. It’s not just that it’s beautiful; it’s that Yazz Ahmed’s compositions make you feel like you’re on the coast of the Persian Gulf itself. You can hear the wind moving the sand, taste the salt of the sea, feel the heat of the Arabian sun, and see the glitter of that sun across the crystalline waters. Ahmed has created a record which is not only compositionally brilliant and progressive, but is steeped with all of the mystique and beauty of Arabia itself—and if there is one record you absolutely must listen to so far in 2025, it’s this one.
Starting from the very first moments of “She Stands On the Shore” through the end of the record, Ahmed strikes a delicate balance between tradition and progression. The album is very decidedly rooted in Arabic music and is an ode to Ahmed’s own Bahraini culture, which she expertly weaves into jazz segments that vary from dizzyingly complex to stunningly beautiful. In the aforementioned opening piece, a variety of horns, percussion, strings and vocals create a tapestry of sound that mirrors the vastness of the desert itself, only for a sinuous bass line to slide into the song at the halfway mark, seamlessly giving way to an infectious groove that feels both modern and timeless.
This interplay of musical styles and culture has always been a part of the evolution of jazz, and A Paradise In the Hold. I could sit there and go into a long dissertation on every piece on the record, but it isn’t really necessary. The brilliance at the root of this album is the fact that it somehow both embraces and flaunts tradition. The scales and melodies used feel familiar and comforting—the kind of scales we’ve all heard and that have come to characterize Arabian culture; but they are layered against modern jazz or jazz-fusion songwriting. Time signatures go through rapid-fire changes, synthesizers and electric guitars make appearances, and the mood fluctuates like the waves of the sea—and at the bottom of it all is Yazz Ahmed’s trumpet, leading the listener on a seemingly endless journey through the melodies of her instrument.
The album is written in such a way that it evenly showcases every musician playing. Every musician plays their part, and when they are given their chance to shine, they do so with abandon—and no one does so more than Ahmed herself. While she does not try to overshadow the composition for the sake of demonstrating virtuosity, when she gets the opportunity she steals the show in an almost spellbinding fashion.
The only (very) minor issue I had with the album on the second or third listen was that the second half did not feel as strong as the first. That being said, I actually don’t even know that it’s even worth mentioning. This album as a whole is damn near one of the most perfect albums I’ve ever had the opportunity to listen to. Maybe it’s because my heritage is Middle Eastern, or maybe it’s because I have an unexplained affinity for this type of music, or maybe it’s just because this album is genuinely special. I don’t think I can overstate it—
A Paradise In The Hold is one of the best albums you are going to listen to in 2025. It is focused and whole, while also being as breathtaking and wild as the land from which it derives its inspiration.
And when you put it on, I wouldn’t be shocked if you are also whisked off to the Persian Gulf right then and there. It’s beautiful, right?
