When The World Was One: Last Train Jazz Essentials #4

If you've got this far, you'll probably have worked out that I'm not much in favour of the obsessive labelling that many music lovers seem unable or unwilling to get past. That said, I'd have to admit that albums commonly tagged as 'spiritual jazz' on my Bandcamp feed usually pique my curiosity before any others, Jazzy G's recent purchases included. That shouldn't be a great surprise to anyone - the genre is hardly what you'd call strictly defined - but it's fair to say that a sizeable chunk of my collection fits somewhere in that spectrum stretching back to John, and particularly, Alice Coltrane.

Enter Matthew Halsall & The Gondwana Orchestra's When The World Was One. 

Okay, full disclosure here, I'm a big fan of the Mancunian trumpet player / composer / band leader / DJ / Gondwana label boss. That his output would make an early appearance in LTJ Essentials was never in doubt, but the choice of album was more open to question - right up until I started this post.

I stumbled across Halsall some years ago, listening to an internet radio station while (sort of) working from home. The tune Mary Emma Louise, from his Fletcher Moss Park cut, quickly wrestled my attention away from half-reading emails. I immediately got hold of the album. It was, without a doubt, the loveliest thing I'd heard in a long time.

Shortly afterward, I casually flourished it in Jazzy G's direction with my customary, 'have you heard this?' Naturally, he already had it in his collection. 

From there it was a short step to hoovering up most of Halsall's output and catching a couple of memorable performances, including a great night at St John's, Hackney, where the only thing more breathtaking than the band was the bar tariff. 

So why does this 2014 release make it to the LTJ Essentials list? 

Firstly, because it hangs together more completely as an album than some. The afore-mentioned Fletcher Moss Park contains easily my top Halsall tune (not telling, work it out for yourself) but doesn't quite feel so much of a self-contained work as WTWWO. Secondly, because it unites the core Gondawana Orchestra and the amazing Nat Birchall to produce what, to me at least, is the archetypal Halsall sound. And thirdly because, on every listen, I decide a different tune is my favourite. It really is that good and, leaving aside my super-fan status, this would be a landmark recording in any discerning jazzer's collection.

Go on, do your ears a favour and submerge yourself in its sublime wonderfulness.