Jamil Sheriff’s Five Gold Rings – Red Kite
(Lamplight Social Records LSRDL28. Album review by Julian Maynard-Smith)

If Leeds Conservatoire wanted an aural prospectus showcasing their teaching talents, they couldn’t do much better than Red Kite, an album on which all members of the quintet are not only performers of long standing but also lecturers at the conservatoire. Also, the quintet’s leader, pianist Jamil Sheriff, is the conservatoire’s head of school of music and education, and until recently (2014–2023) was the jazz program leader. Joining him are Jim Corry (alto saxophone), Richard Iles (flugelhorn), Sam Quintana (double bass) and Caroline Boaden (drums).

All ten tracks are Sheriff originals and they’re all in the post-bop tradition, but with enough originality to balance familiarity with freshness. For example, the opener ‘Going to Church’ shares the fluidity and expansiveness of Miles Davis’s second great quartet (at 10:32, it’s the longest track on the album) and Corry’s alto saxophone put me in mind of Bobby Watson; ‘Speed ​​Awareness’ morphs from a stop-time melody shared between alto sax and flugelhorn backed by complex drumming into a well-oiled, high-speed modal number reminiscent of Coltrane’s ‘Impressions’ (which, incidentally, is itself based on the changes of Miles Davis’s ‘So What?’); and the closing track ‘Let’s [sic] Call It’ has a bluesy soul-jazz feel that recalls the Cannonball Adderley Quintet.

In contrast, influences are less apparent on tunes such as ‘Spiralling into Control’ and ‘Bells Blues’, the former spiraling from a loose and impressionistic piano intro into more structure when the band joins in, and the latter a punchy number with a tricky rhythm that could easily derail musicians who weren’t so in the pocket with each other. Throughout the album the ensemble playing is excellent, and interspersed with several fine solos.

Red Kite is a brand-new recording, but five albums from Sheriff’s back catalogue, starting with Daydreams (2003), has recently been reissued. If you enjoy Red Kitethese albums (ranging from big band to trio, and spanning a variety of styles) are also worth a listen.

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LINK: Red Kite from Amazon
Lamplight Social Records