Mulatu Astatke
Ethio Jazz

Comet Records present the new reissue out of the Comet new reissue series, Dilijans by Ayizan. A mind-blowing session of Spiritual Jazz recorded in NYC in 1984 led by Haitian genius Alix Pascal blending traditional Ra Ra elements with modal/spiritual melodies. The result was like nothing else coming out of Haiti or the Haitian exile community in the US at the time. Dark, mystical, lyrical and abstract, with its otherworldly shifting rhythms, Dilijans came off like a Haitian version of Bitches Brew.The album sounds less like a stylish mini-jazz performing in a hotel dancehall than like a cry of ancestors emanating from the spirit world to lament over the complications of modern Haitian society.

By now, it should be more than well-known that Joe-Armon Jones and Maxwell Owin are two of UK's jazz's most prominent and deserving fixtures, with the former having made a name for himself as part of outfits like Ezra Collective, and the latter for his unique blend of jazz and future garage. Together, they have an unmatched synergy; not staying too rooted in the potential quagmire of jazz alone, Archetype is a critical exploration of genre, as both Armon-Jones and Owin segue through explorations of their favourite non-jazz genres (dub, funk, garage, hip-hop) as "archetypes", paying homage to their infleunce on the music they make now. Guest features from Mala, Fatima, Lex Amor and O The Ghost cement this notion of tribute and versatility, making for a serene and virtuosic albu that best falls under the category of "jazzifyer".