One must have a fondness for jazz in its rawest, most feral form to appreciate Kim Oki. Luckily for me, once I found out about the stuff at university, I was obsessed. Even the staunchest of students of "traditional" musical forms take issue with free jazz. Which actually upon inspection isn't at all surprising. However, I fell in love with the frenetic, untampered realness of it all. It's a beautiful form of expression that I believe only the purest jazz musicians are able to appreciate let alone execute with the poise and alacrity of Kim Oki.
About Prejudice opens with the blast, rattle and shout of free jazz. Before you can take a breath you're transported into a world that's set to detonate. Just when you think everything has evened out to something resembling order, the planet explodes.
"Slave of Homemade Prejudice" is Kim Oki sending sound peeled of all its pretense. Aural imagery that unravels the events leading up to those depicted on the cover. A man who understands that we are slaves to prejudice when we borrow from cultures that don't belong to us then dare judge that very culture for the audacity of being itself.
The mercurial saxophonist has released three full albums this year. Of the three, About Prejudice has the most to say and does it loud and without fear.
Comments