Photo: Charles Bouril

There’s wonderful news from musical polymath Ben LaMar Gay, who has yesterday announced the release of a new album, following last year’s outstanding and adventurous Open Arms to Open Us. Entitled Certain Reveries, the album will see the light of day on November 11th through International Anthem. As the press release describes, Certain Reveries is “a collection of work involving sound, fabric, movement, rivers, shadows, Lagosian memories, light and listening”.

Performed in duo with percussionist Tommaso Moretti, the album was originally filmed by Chris Strong for EFG London Jazz Fest’s live-stream program in 2020. At the time, the tremendously talented and versatile composer, multi-instrumentalist, singer and poet presented Certain Reveries in three parts, each divided by a short film conceptualized, choreographed, and directed by him, as a tribute to the late multi-instrumentalist, vocalist and composer Eddie Harris.

Alongside the announcement, Gay has shared the album’s lead single, ‘Água Futurism’, a staggering 11-minute piece offered with a live video directed by Chris Strong. Watch it now.

In other related good news, Ben LaMar Gay is returning to the UK/EU this Autumn for a series of live dates, which includes a London show at The Barbican as part of CHICAGOxLONDON 2022. See the full run of dates below:

Oct 28 – Klub Stodoła, Warsaw, Poland
Oct 29 – Opus Jazz Club, Budapest, Hungary
Oct 30 – Fauves! Festival, Rome, Italy
Nov 2 – Jazzclub Fasching, Stockholm, Sweden
Nov 3 – Alte Feuerwache, Mannheim, Germany
Nov 4 – art.ist, Wiesbaden, Germany
Nov 5 – Palace, St. Gallen, Switzerland
Nov 6 – Haus der Berliner Festspiele, Berlin, Germany
Nov 8 – Ancienne Belgique, Brussels, Belgium
Nov 9 – Teatro Spazio 89, Milan, Italy
Nov 11 – Sala Vanni, Firenze, Italy
Nov 12 – Barbican Centre, London, England

Photo: Alejandro Ayala

Open Arms to Open Us, the outstanding and adventurous new album from musical polymath Ben LaMar Gay, slipped under our radar when it came out last month but we now have it firmly stuck in our ears and hearts. One of the year’s standout records, Open Arms to Open Us is an impressive feat with disparate stylistic dimensions. On his new album, the tremendously talented and versatile composer, multi-instrumentalist, singer and poet runs the gamut from blues, jazz and R&B to Tropicália, hip-hop and eletronica, and everything in between, often within the same track.

In adition to Tommaso Moretti on drums, Matthew Davis on tuba, and Rob Frye on woodwinds, Open Arms to Open Us saw Gay enlist a cast of stellar collaborators, including OHMME singers Sima Cunningham and Macie Stewart, bassist/vocalist/arranger Ayanna Woods, multi-disciplinary Rwandan artist Dorothée Munyaneza, poet A.Martinez, cellist Tomeka Reid, and vocalists Onye Ozuzu, Gira Dahnee, and Angel Bat Dawid.

In an accompanying prologue written by him, Gay says the album “deals with rhythm as an inheritance of information – sort of like DNA or RNA. Coping with the present-day bombardment of data and recycled ideologies from sources essentially fed by the creed “Destroy Them. Own the Earth” often leaves me with only one thing to look forward to: Rhythm. More than anything, I’d like my babies to always trust in rhythm. It’s the one trueness that travels great distances and constantly survives the crumbling of facades.”

He continues:

“Open Arms to Open Us is full of rhythm or information that will assist my young folk in dealing with the repetition of things that aim to harm them or stunt their holistic progression. The title is a suggestion of a body movement that is used in many spiritual practices and is also a gesture that represents a type of understanding that leads to touch or a hug. The music is for dancing, reflecting, celebrating, bellowing, bawling, stimulation, focus and deciphering messages from loved ones here and beyond. It was the space in between the sound of my great grandfather’s hammer that made me understand that, no matter what, We Gon Win.”

For a taste of the out-of-the-box sound and far flung influences at play in the album, here’s the three marvelous singles that preceded its release, ‘Sometimes I Forget How Summer Looks On You (feat. Ohmme)’, ‘Aunt Lola and the Quail’ and ‘Oh Great Be The Lake’.

Open Arms to Open Us is out now through International Anthem and Nonesuch Records.