Jasmine Myra – Rising

Jasmine Myra was hailed as the new star of British jazz with her first album »Horizons« in 2022. There’s a strong temptation to label the saxophonist’s sound with loaded buzzwords like »smooth jazz« or »soft jazz«. After all, her playing sometimes bears a clear resemblance to the style of saxophonist Jan Garbarek and trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, which reads like a musical recommendation for the ECM label. Their second album, »Rising«, is once again released on Gondwana, trumpeter Matthew Halsall’s label, who also produced the album and recorded it with the same crew.

And that’s the secret of Jasmine Myra’s music. The interplay creates a strange magic, a subtle sound that knows exactly what it wants. The artist herself cites Makaya McCraven, Bonobo and Shabaka Hutchings as the main influences on her second album. But she doesn’t impose these influences with brute force and obviousness; she buries them deep within the wonderful arrangements of her music. This culminates in the final track, »How Tall The Mountains«, where Jasmine Myra transcends her own style and jazz in general in collaboration with bass clarinet, harp and flute.