Shez Raja- Mystic Radikal

Shez Raja is a London-based bassist with a soulful tone and a funky twang who has been steadily building a solid reputation on the UK jazz scene in recent years. For this, his third album under the ‘collective’ name, he calls upon the talents of some quality musicians to provide a sleek backing to his fulsome, groove-led bass lines. Included among them is a guest slot from one of England’s finest tenor saxophone players, Andy Sheppard.

Whilst variety is the key to this album, in its mixture of styles and approaches, Raja’s musical roots lie firmly in the world of seventies jazz fusion, all shuffling rhythms and brisk licks played in snappy unison. The wild funk workout of ‘Soho’ is reminiscent of Bootsy Collins, whilst ‘Carnival of Colours’ opts for an African hi-life rhythm, replete with steel drums. The eastern melodies and Moroccan drones of ‘Karmic Flow’ add a further melodic approach, while ‘We are one’ may best be described as folk dub. The highlights of this record include ‘Chakras on the Wall’, with its sliding bass line and solid groove, ‘Quiverwish’, which has some fine and nimble slapping, and – best of all – the commercial catchiness of the opening title track. The sole vocal number – album closer ‘Beauty of the Beast’ – is the only weak spot, whereas the forty-nine seconds of his solo piece, ‘Music for Elves’, in which Raja glides fluently along the neck of his Fender Jazz, left me wishing to hear him play unaccompanied for longer.

There’s no doubting Raja’s musical versatility and his more than able capabilities on the bass. He is a terrific player with a great sense of groove. However, from this listener’s perspective, the decision to opt for a stylistically diverse approach meant that the album lacked a little cohesion. This conflict is best exampled in ‘Mandala Girl’, which starts as a neat poppy, commercial tune before taking a sudden directional change mid-number, with a flanged bass chord sequence worthy of The Cure, before attempting an Ornette Colman-esque free jazz frenzy that the band only just pull off.

However, that quibble aside, this remains a fine record, one which immerses the listener into Raja’s colorful, multi-genre world. It gets better (and aurally richer) with each play, being chock-full of catchy melodies that lodge themselves in your head.

8/10

http://www.shezraja.com/home.cfm

http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/ShezRajaCollective

Richard Scarr