Jessica Lauren - Almería

Originally released on Freestyle Records in 2018, Jessica Lauren’s Almería now joins the Impressive Collective / BBE Music catalogue, further extending the long-standing creative relationship between Jessica and A&R Greg Boraman, which also saw the first ever vinyl release of her stunning, long lost album ‘Film’ in 2024.

Since the early 1990s, keyboard player Jessica Lauren’s soulful, spacious jazz grooves have been a distinctive presence within London’s alternative music scene. Over the following decades, she has released four albums under her own name, as well as playing with space jazz collectives The Heliocentrics and Emanative, woodwind virtuosos Tamar Osborn (Collocutor) and Chip Wickham (Gondwana Records), clarinettist Arun Ghosh and many more.

Her preceding album, Jessica Lauren Four (2012), highlighted Lauren’s beautifully minimalist approach, something still relatively rare within jazz. Her compositions are defined by an instinctive understanding of space and restraint, making the music as much about what she chooses not to play as what she does.

Almería opens with Kofi Nomad, a deeply percussive, Afrocentric epic featuring the rich baritone saxophone of Tamar Osborn, underpinned by a formidable rhythmic foundation from Richard Ọlátúndé Baker, Phillip Harper and drummer Cosimo Keita Cadore.

Lauren’s gift for simple, understated yet instantly memorable melodic ideas remains undiminished. Amalfi is a breezy bossa that evokes sun-dappled Mediterranean coastlines, while the angular, brooding Simba Jike (The Lioness) carries something of an Eddie Harris-style deep groove. Lauren riffs and solos beautifully on grand piano as Osborn blows freely above Neville ‘Level’ Malcolm’s powerful upright bass figure.

Closing statement Argentina is a duet with Tamar Osborn on clarinet, a masterpiece of atmosphere and pathos, perfectly encapsulating Lauren’s approach. Almost architectural in its minimalism, it demonstrates how remarkably much she can communicate through subtlety, space and the careful placement of every note.

Tracklist
1. Kofi Nomad (11:30)
2. Teck Et Bambou (07:48)
3. Amalfi (05:51)
4. Simba Jike (09:24)
5. Chichourlette (06:29)
6. Bells Ring for Esmeralda (04:28)
7. Beija Flor (05:11)
8. Chocolate Con Churros (02:11)
9. Argentina (08:48)