As a lover of good music and genres in general, I can honestly say that I’ve probably listened to more new Jazz records over the last couple of years than I have in 10 years. Not as if it’s ever left, but the genre seems to be making a substantial resurgence to vinyl in a major way with some of our favorites coming from European countries. The latest to hit our radar and will surely makes it’s way into our daily rotation comes from Levitation Orchestra and their upcoming “Inexpressible Infinity” LP. Hailing from the UK, the 13-member collective was founded by trumpeter Axel Kaner-Lidstrom (Cykada) with the foundation of being beautiful, simple and pure.
None of the members are individually responsible for the orchestra’s compositions as the entire 13-member band composes music collectively in the spirit of communal ownership, which allows for the emergence of unique energy among the musicians. For them, creating pieces like this is somewhat of a ritual. Each member is a young London musician who is either already well-established on the scene or just one step from getting there and are well focused on the music at hand.
Undoubtedly, one may describe the music they create as spiritual jazz. Nevertheless, the sound of the band eludes restrictive generic conventions due to its progressive deviation. Somewhere between the musicians from Strata-East catalogue, Sun Ra, Alice Coltrane and large bands of Michał Urbaniak from the 70s you can hear fusion and folk inspirations. All this makes Levitation Orchestra one of the most original jazz orchestras on the map of London.