8 Tracks: That Feature A Parent And Child w/ James Heather

One of my favourite albums this year was this collection of cosmic jazz taken from pioneer Alice Coltrane’s private cassette tapes from her time in a Ashram Monastery. This track is actually from her last ever album, of the same name and was produced by her son Ravi Coltrane (who has worked with his cousin Flying Lotus) and marked a return to a more jazz style. Ravi also features on this particular track on soprano saxophone, and another son Oran features on the album too. This tracks is a glorious 10-minute epic that harks back to her most focussed jazz work of the early to mid 70’s.

Ricky Washington helped bring up a young Kamasi in South Central LA in the 90’s, a very violent time in that areas history. He prayed that Kamasi would go on to great things, and by passing on his own love for wind instruments and jazz, he did just that. Ricky played with Diana Ross and The Temptations back in the day and it was great to see him on tour as part of Kamasi’s band as he began to explode onto public. Skip to 3.27 on this live video….

This family are said to be part of 72 generations of Kora players, a 21 stringed instrument, which is like an African harp. It is an original sound of West Africa, and I think its interesting to note that it may have been a direct influence of the playing techniques of Delta Blues from America, one of the earliest forms of blues music. Just listen, beautiful.

I believe Lorna and Derek are the names of Aphex Twins parents, hence this track title LornaDerek. Not really a track with Aphex on himself, more of a recording of a phone call from his parents wishing him happy birthday. When i first heard this, i think in 2001, I hadn’t seen much of an artists personal story in electronic music, and it’s pretty funny too. It sits side by side with his electronic and piano compositions on one of my favourite Apex Twin albums Drukqs.

Anoushka was taught the sitar from her father Ravi from the age of 7, At fifteen, she assisted her father on the landmark album Chants of India, produced by George Harrison no less! A brilliant sitar player in her own right, she has forged a successful career. India is close to my family, so I had to choose something to represent that.

A beautiful track where Cyrus Shahrad records his Dad reciting old Iranian poetry, including lines like, “A Man Who does good things, never dies.” It is spoken in Farsi (Persian) then translated to English. I recently lost my Dad this year, I wish I had recorded some of his wise truths too, but this track has been some comfort in the grieving process.

I’ve been loving the words from Jay-Z’s mother Gloria on the track Smile, very deep. That track is not on YouTube. I am also a massive fan of NAS and beyond his wordplay, his love of embracing different genres. This track features his Dad Olu Dara who had been a musician on the New York scene in the 60’s and serves as a history of how Blues music turned into Hip Hop. It’s a true son and father anthem!

I am lucky to have worked with Taylor on his first album, “Early Riser” in 2014, to me he helped set the ground for this new jazz/electronic wave thats been blossoming since. He deserves much more light, and it will come I am sure. This track features his Dad, Bobby. Best known for his “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” No.1 smash, but also someone who has worked with Chick Corea and Herbie Hancock. It’s great to hear them together on this album highlight, with Bobby’s unique vocal stylings over Taylor’s velvet beats.