Goran Kajfeš Subtropic Arkestra - The Reason Why Vol. 1 (2013) / Modern Jazz, Progressive, Fusion, Psychedelic, Balkan

2011 Nordic Music Prize winner and his large jazz ensemble reimagine Turkish psych, Brazilian soul, German psychedelic electronica and progressive jazz/rock on the follow up to the hugely successful X/Y. In preparation for his fourth studio recording, trumpeter Goran Kajfes trawled his personal record collection to choose eight pieces of music that join the dots between the diverse array of influences in his music. The Reason Why - Vol.1 sees 2011 Nordic Music Prize winner and his large jazz ensemble Subtropic Arkestra reimagine such colourful music as the Turkish psych of Edip Akbayram, the soulful groove of Brazilian singer Arthur Verocai, the German psychedelic electronica of Cluster and the progressive jazz/rock of Soft Machine, Bo Hansson and Tame Impala, among others.
The Reason Why - Vol.1 is in many ways a natural extension of his ambitious X/Y project as it pays tribute to Kajfes’ myriad inspirations and embodies his desire to push jazz away from the beaten track and into new territories. Croatian-born (Sweden-raised) Kajfes is a tireless innovator and a key figure of the contemporary Swedish music scene. In addition to his work as a bandleader, sideman and producer, he has worked with film, theatre, art and dance.
All instrumental and generally high energy thanks to the brass quotient this is a fabulous album if you enjoy jazz rock of the variety found on Zappa's Grand Wazoo or Jaga Jazzists What We Must to give two contrasting instances, powerful, exciting and pretty much full on stuff. The Subtropic Arkestra is a ten strong Swedish band that combines brass, keyboards/moog/cembalo, guitar and bass plus drums played by highly capable musicians who have either been well guided or have a natural affinity with the work (A nod to Sun Ra s legendary cosmic jazz ensemble, Subtropic Arkestra comprises the cream of the contemporary Swedish music scene with saxophonists Jonas Kullhammar and Per Johansson (Oddjob), guitarist Andreas Sderstrm (Ass, El Rojo Adios), bassist Johan Berthling (Fire!, Tape) and drummers Lars Skoglund (Lykke Li, Shout Out Louds) Andreas Werllin (Wildbirds&Peacedrums, Tonbruket) among others). The sheer quantity of energy and dynamism of the playing means that a degree of obvious compression has been necessary in the production but the result is essential from beginning to end, the sound doesn't get in the way of the music. I was blown away when I first put this on and that feeling has remained with continued exposure, it seems a bit early to pick an album of the year but this is a very strong contender.