On paper, the Kieran Hebden/Steve Reid collaborations could have been commissioned for a pair of Four Tet fiends & jazz-loving chin-strokers like LMYE. In practice, the ensemble stuff often plays it safe (even when getting pretty free) by leaving Kieran to squiggle electronically in the background. But the duos are particularly rich, subtle, fascinating conversations between two generations of musician & any number of genres.
To these ears, the pair's highlight so far is the timeless yet fantastically modern Our Time from Tongues. Their We Dream from The Exchange Sessions Vol. 2 is less obviously beautiful, but still spurts & pounds to massive effect (NB: version here is a giveaway edit...).
One peak from the ensemble is the intense Which One? from Spirit Walk; the storming Lions of Juda, especially, & Lugano are deep workouts too.
Jiggy Jiggy from the more recent Daxaar starts fairly lame, but gets rather more rewarding as it builds (NB: giveaway version...); the title track is fiercer, by the way.
A couple of other collisions of jazz heavy-ish weights with more contemporary-ish sounds: Pharoah Sanders with the underrated 23 Skidoo - Hendang from 23 Skidoo - & Courtney Pine with Attica Blues - Trying Times from Another Story (NB: there's also a bone-crunching version on a Talkin' Loud giveaway, Year on Year).
Official Hebden/Reid video:
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