Name: There Is A Place
Brand: Maisha

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

BWOOD187CD

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Colour

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2018-11-09

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Tax rate GB

UPC / Barcode

5060180323646

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Total Cap

1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

Artist

Maisha

Genre GB

Jazz

Label GB

Brownswood Recordings

Brownswood Recordings is a British label that was started in 2006 by Gilles Peterson. It originated from the Brownswood Records imprint, which was a side-label of Talkin' Loud (part of Mercury). The label draws inspiration from the Brownswood Basement sessions that Gilles did on his BBC Radio 1 'Worldwide' show. These sessions showcased modern jazz-influenced dancefloor music and continue to inspire newer musicians and producers today. Brownswood Recordings serves as an outlet for artists who are unique or overlooked by other labels, providing them with a space to release their work.

The label also features projects such as Gilles Peterson's Havana Cultura Band and Sonzeira, which are influenced by Cuban and Brazilian music respectively.

With its commitment to showcasing diverse talent and nurturing creativity, Brownswood Recordings has become an influential force in the music industry since its establishment.

Maisha is a London-based ensemble led by drummer/composer Jake Long. They bring a fresh perspective to the lineage of modal jazz from the 60's and 70's, drawing inspiration from artists like Alice Coltrane, John Coltrane, and Pharoah Sanders. With a focus on genuine improvisation and expressive experimentation, Maisha fuses these influences with other genres and cultures that inspire them.

There’s something universal in the appeal of an escape – of finding somewhere to relax and explore your ideas. It’s a feeling which connects together the different parts of Maisha’s debut album. A deep record which provides grist for serious spiritual rumination, the music prompts internal reflection as much as it reflects the surrounds which shaped it. Each of its tracks provokes a feeling of intense revery which is timeless, on the one hand, but realised through a confluence of sounds and circumstances which are undeniably of the present.

The six-piece group, led by bandleader Jake Long, bring a fresh slant to the weighty spiritual jazz tradition. Their 2016 debut EP was released through Jazz Re:freshed (whose weekly shows and record label are an institution for forward-thinking jazz), and were part of We Out Here, Brownswood’s early 2018 record which documented London’s genre-bending, jazz-influenced underground. They’ve been featured on Boiler Room, supported the Sun Ra Arkestra, and played at Church of Sound, a live series that’s quickly become a staple of the emergent scene.

The album’s title alludes to a small, secluded park which bandleader Jake Long would often retreat to, whose peaceful surrounds were the setting for regular moments of reflection. It’s also a reference to London. Or to be more specific, the side of London which has helped nurture him and his peers: rehearsal rooms, friend’s houses and intimate venues. Its band members, Amané Suganami, Twm Dylan, Tim Doyle, Yahael Camara-Onono, Shirley Tetteh and Nubya Garcia, the latter of whom played a part in shaping the early sound of the band, are musicians who’ve come through the same circles as Long.

Spiritual jazz is a tradition that’s leaden with its own traditions, histories and stories. Maisha carve out out their own style through that weight of expectation: they take stock of that history, channelling the greats like Pharoah Sanders, while filtering their own influences – which range from jazz to Afrobeat – through every part of their musical process. It’s a sound which rests on trance-inducing rhythms, instinctive musical interchange and repeated, deeply enriching melodic refrains. It’s a combination which has made for their own singular sound.