Fresh off the back of the successes of Work Money Death, The Flying Hats, and The Library Archives: Volume 4, ATA Records presents The Karman Line by Outer Worlds Jazz Ensemble. When musicians are on tour conversations naturally turn to music. Whilst exploring the jazz kissas and record stores of Tokyo, woodwind maestro Chip Whickham and ATA mastermind and bassist Neil Innes discussed their shared influences of Yusef Lateef, David Axelrod, and Alice Coltrane. The seeds for a new project were sown and soon seven tracks of deep, spiritual, groove driven jazz were laid down and on tape. The moods of the album are varied yet share a sense of reverence and exploration. On "Karmen Cantala" and "All Is," Chip's flute floats and soars, propelled by dreamlike harp and waves of impressionistic piano. "Low Orbit" takes things in a funkier direction, with Steve Parry's horn arrangements (including the unusual instrumentation of bassoon, French horn and tuba) channeling 1970s Quincy Jones and the loping swagger of Archie Shepp's "Mama Too Tight." "The Celestial Matari" and "Molecules" recall the flowing, cosmic sounds of Joe Henderson and Alice Coltrane's masterpiece The Elements, and "Earthly Elements" gets earthy indeed. Driven by a heavy, dance-floor bass line and an array of percussion, Chips flute gets huskier, dirtier and more insistent, drawing deep from Yusef Lateef's Psychicemotus and Roland Kirk's Blacknuss.
