Hailed
on arrival by critics as the toughest and most creative group of his career, Tommy Smith’s KARMA sees the brilliant Scottish saxophonist lead a band of virtuosic musicians on a deeply grooving acid jazz adventure that draws on influences from around the world.
Comprising Tommy Smith on tenor and soprano saxophones and Shakuhachi flute, mega-talented pianist and keyboardist Steve Hamilton, six-string bass guitar sensation Kevin Glasgow and jet-powered drummer Alyn Cosker, KARMA presents the music of gobsmacking energy and superb inventiveness.
Writing for these musicians has given Smith a new edge. KARMA’S ten brand new compositions, while acknowledging past masters including Weather Report and Michael Brecker, drive forward concisely and urgently into the urban club culture of the current age with occasional pauses in a chill-out zone that evokes Smith’s native Scottish landscapes and Japanese meditation rites.
This is invigorating music of high quality presented with authoritative skill and boundless vitality and imagination by musicians playing at a creative peak, a truly KARMIC experience.
BBC MUSIC MAGAZINE *****
“His tone is tungsten-tough or tender and nostalgic, his improvisations stimulating and affecting.”
“ Tommy Smith, the most talented sax star to arrive on the world scene in years.”
Gary Burton
publication
SCOTSMAN *****
“His toughest and most creative quartet yet.”
IRISH TIMES ****
“Smith’s tenor is now the uniquely personal voice of a great player”
JAZZWISE ****
“It is quite possibly his finest recording yet.”
GUARDIAN ****
“A rare splicing of rich-toned, pipe-like themes,
fiercely guttural up-tempo tenor improv, Arabic and Irish music,
tight grooving that suggests Weather Report.”
MOJO ****
“Scottish saxophonist/composer’s 24th album,
one of his best.”