Gary Bartz and London ensemble Your Brother‘s Keeper collaborate on Where Rivers Meet, a deeply intuitive new studio album capturing a rare meeting between generations of jazz musicians. Released as label Brownswood celebrates its 20th anniversary, the record brings together Bartz’s jazz lineage and a new collective emerging from London’s vibrant jazz scene.
At the centre of the project is Bartz, one of the most influential voices in modern jazz. A saxophonist whose career spans more than five decades, Bartz emerged performing with Charles Mingus, Max Roach and Art Blakey before joining Miles Davis during the trumpeter’s electrifying early-1970s period. He soon became a defining figure of the spiritual jazz movement through his celebrated NTU Troop recordings, creating a body of work that continues to resonate across generations of musicians and listeners alike. His playing – lyrical, searching and unmistakably soulful – remains one of the most distinctive voices in jazz.
The album also marks the arrival of Your Brother‘s Keeper, a new collective assembled by drummer and producer Jake Long and rooted and shared in musical dialogue and improvisation. Featuring Ali MacSween (piano, synthesizers and modular FX), Axel Kaner-Lidstrom (trumpet), Twm Dylan (double bass), Tim Doyle (percussion) and Chelsea Carmichael (tenor saxophone), alongside Long on drums, the group reflects a scene that has reshaped the sound of contemporary jazz over the past decade.
This is our Chosen One.