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