On the right path

Refreshing reinventions from seasoned local jazz acts.

- GRAHAM REID

ORBITS
By The Circling Sun

Just as coordinates in rock culture shift, so, too, in jazz, which is in a constant state of reinvention.

Two decades ago, for example, very few were talking about the late saxophonist Pharoah Sanders or pianist/harpist Alice Coltrane, but now no self-respecting music lover – jazz or otherwise – would be without some of their spiritually inclined albums.

The 2023 Spirits album by Auckland’s The Circling Sun collective, based around drummer, producer/arranger Julien Dyne and saxophonist Cameron Allen – both with respectable careers – tapped into 1960s Latin American jazz and bebop. Now, with Orbits, they reach even further with their amalgam of Afro-Cuban sounds, John and Alice Coltrane, multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef and the Brazilian groove of Milton Nascimento, Airto Moreira and vocalist Flora Purim. It’s a sound both soulful and sophisticated, as much for the head as the feet.

The seven minute-plus opener Constellation pulls together threads of warm synths, yearning John Coltrane saxophone, Chick Corea-like keyboards and frequent partners Love Infinity Choir on backing vocals; Mizu and the percussive