UK jazz collective Levitation Orchestra show that the creative possibilities of the large ensemble can endure. Lead by trumpeter Axel Kaner-Lidstrom who first brought this group of young, scene-busting players together in 2018, the collective has been gathering momentum ever since. The Levitation Orchestra’s debut album ‘Inexpressible Infinity’ arrived a year after their formation and sophomore release, the ambitious double ‘Illusions & Realities’ followed in 2021. There’s been a mini-pause in the Orchestra’s journey lately but now this nu-jazz big band are re-emerging with their third instalment on 5dB Records, the luscious and soulful ‘Sanctuary’.
It’s an apt name for a large group of musicians, eleven in all, who have convened periodically to create the Levitation Orchestra soundscape and whose relationships have been sustained since those early days. Most of the original members feature on this third outing, and their longstanding bond underpins the creative energy which they continue to generate. Maybe to celebrate these foundations the set begins with the cool beauty of the album’s title track. The opening piano ripple conversation with Hamish Nockles-Moore’s warm bass and vocalist Plumm’s soothing song quivers with an ECM stillness. The piece builds eloquently from here, a gorgeous melt of spiritual jazz raga with gospel overtones, rich in softly-calling sax, swooning choir and empathic percussion. This is clearly big music, poured out with sincerity and whole-heartedness.
Such cinematic, mood switching is thrust in the spotlight throughout this latest Levitation Orchestra release. Within Us Without Us stretches into a swaying, breezy tunefulness then opens out to the widescreen. As the melody line gets expanded with a tumble of drums and sax, the combinations of fluttering brass and harp seem to make the music glisten. The vocal coda intrigues, Plumm’s singing restrained and delicate but resonant with an emotive inner depth. Here is a singular jazz voice ready for wider recognition which effortlessly contributes to the scale of this album’s arrangements. On the mid-paced balladry of Imaldris, Plumm matches the tune’s rising intensity, gliding from whispered intimacy to full blown operatic dynamism. It’s a cut which swoops between wide melodic vistas and moments of contemplation, plunging further into a valley of imagined mysteries.
Throughout ‘Sanctuary’, from composition to execution the emphasis is on the holistic ensemble sound. The founding principle of the Levitation Orchestra is that, as leader Kaner-Lidstrom says, collective music making should be “rooted in respect and not the aggrandising of ego”. Consequently, any solo breaks are kept crisp and focused on making a contribution to the overall tune plus the image it is describing. That doesn’t mean that innovation and individual expression is stifled here, there is no rigid Levitation Orchestra template. The flourishing melodrama of Leif Kaner-Lidstrom’s piano brings a different acoustic purity to the ensemble’s sound throughout the album. On the pared back Breathe it In his fluid patterns tingle magically with some fine sax detailing for an interlude of quiet serenity. More moments of suspension arrive with the contemplative Home where Maria Osuchowska’s intricate, inspiring harp mingles with some rippling Yoshimura-like electronica and Plumm’s purring spoken word. As the dreamy mantra winds away to a brushed snare shuffle and Lluis Domenech Plana’s warming flute, the end-line “You are home” gets under the skin.
‘Sanctuary’ is also a place where any rise in tempo sits comfortably. Embrace floats into the groove, Kaner-Lidstrom’s trumpet Matthew Halsall-esque in stoking the anticipation. There’s a smooth up-gearing, here, scat and skittering horn stabs opening up a driving dance inspired fusion where Osuchowska’s harp shards and the skronking tenor, from the explosive James Akers/ Ayodeji Ijishakin partnership, excel. More angular but equally locomotive Premedetatio Malorum takes a lively swingbeat meets rolling bossa route. Post big riff crescendo, coaxed by Paris Raine’s guitar crunches, the tension ramps up. “Unpredictable, flexible, non-sensical, delectable” vocalist Plumm monotones as the piece scurries frantically away.
The moods and themes that Levitation Orchestra probe on ‘Sanctuary’, connection and disconnection, highs and lows, deeper peace and surface panic, are interpreted with poise and sensitivity. This feels much more than a bunch of tunes collected in one place, there’s a satisfying narrative arc to the whole album that is resolved in the final number Another Way. It’s a complex tune which navigates with an agile awareness between hard and soft zones, one anguished and one gently appealing, without ever fragmenting. There’s a shifting tide between flighty neo-classical passages, all trilling piano and brisk staccatos, and more abrasive doomy chord collisions, where stomping guitar, desperate scat and raucous sax grip tight. Another Way is a fine conclusion to an album which reveals Levitation Orchestra’s scope and capability to create music that’s both lush with tunefulness and loaded with sonic power. There’s something close to a Keith Tippett/ Carla Bley level of invention and vision which emerges from this collective. Yes, in ‘Sanctuary‘ we may just have a late contender for one the UK jazz albums of the year.
Get your copy of ‘Sanctuary‘ by Levitation Orchestra from your local record store or direct from 5dB Records HERE
