Immanuel Wilkins - Blues blood (CD)

IMMANUEL WILKINS – BLUES BLOOD
'Ambition' may sound like a dirty word. But if you keep that ambition close to yourself, to what you love, you can only gain respect for it. That's how you can look at the ambitious new album by saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins. Because no matter how ambitious in form, composition, instrumentation and concept 'Blues Blood' is, it is also a nostalgic look back at his youth. And that nostalgia hits home; on opener 'Matte Glaze' you see yourself as a child playing with blocks, while your mother makes tea in the kitchen, but as a voyeur from a distance.
'Blues Blood' is a concept album and sounds serene and spiritual on purpose. It is that serenity where the ambition lies; besides the fact that he is working with vocalists for the first time, among others Cécile McLorin Salvant and June McDoom are working, besides Meshell Ndegeocello, who took care of the production. 'Blues Blood' is also ambitious because it touches on themes that play a role in your youth, but that you only see when you get older; the roots of your family, in the case of Wilkins' family these are recipes that are passed down from parent to child. Mothers teach that to their children, who in turn learned it from their mother. It is the reason that during the live performances of 'Blues Blood' there is cooking on stage; chopping a knife or boiling water is part of the composition. There you have that ambition again.