Idris Ackamoor, The Pyramids – An Angel Fell (2xLP)

The African-American band around Idris Ackamoor, which released three milestones of spiritual jazz in the seventies with "Lalibela" (1973), "King Of Kings" (1974) and "Birth/Speed/Merging" (1976), reunited in 2012. After "We Be All Africans" of 2016, "An Angel Fell" is the second album on Strut.

The intense and poignant record was produced by Malcolm Catto of London's Heliocentrics at Quatermass Studios. It features the cosmic jazz collective at their absolute best, blending eight tracks into an apocalyptic rapturous sound spectacle à la Sun Ra Arkestra. "Folklore, fantasy and drama," the bandleader calls it. "The pieces tackle global themes that are important to me and that affect everyone." For the charismatic saxophonist, these include not only negative developments such as climate catastrophe or environmental pollution, but also positive things, such as community work, the beauty of untouched nature or the healing powers of music.

The latter is known to be the central idea of Spiritual Jazz. That this is still relevant is shown not only by the current political world situation but also by a release like "The Epic", with which Kamasi Washington recently gave a younger audience a brilliant update in Afrocentric music.