Bassist Daniel Casimir‘s excellent debut album Boxed In was Jazz Album of The Year at the 2022 Parliamentary Awards. It featured lush orchestration and a star-studded supporting cast. His new release Balance on the jazz re:freshed label continues the theme by combining the strings of the London Contemporary Orchestra, with a big band of twelve powerhouse players (including A-listers Sheila Maurice-Grey, Nubya Garcia, Binker Golding, Rosie Turton, Cassie Kinoshi…).
One of the ‘go-to’ bassists on the contemporary music scene, Casimir has also correctly gained a significant reputation as a composer and arranger, since his conservatoire days. Balance provides a perfect illustration of why his stock has rapidly grown in recent times.
The core band on Balance is top class, with James Copus on trumpet, James Beckwith on keys and the effervescent Jamie Murray behind the drumkit, who provides the right balance (that word again) between drive and groove. Copus and Beckwith each offer smart solos at key points on the album, with Chris Maddock, Golding, Garcia and Casimir himself also standing out as soloists, at different times throughout.
In addition to utilising some of the best horn players around, Casimir has a penchant for featuring some super soulful vocalists too. Of particular note is his previous work with Tess Hirst on his debut EP Escapee and on their joint 2019 album These Days (also check out Hirst’s wonderful HERstory album from earlier this year, arranged and produced by Casimir).
Another fabulous singer Ria Moran featured on Boxed In and she lights up Balance too, on the song I’ll Take My Chances. There’s a hint of Dusty Springfield emanating from the other vocalist on the album, Zola Marcelle, who shares centre stage with an archetypal Garcia solo, on the closing piece You Know.
Strong melodies in song-like structures form the foundations of all seven of the compositions here, whether instrumentals or those with lyrics. You won’t necessarily find ‘blowing’ jazz licks or contrapuntal interplay as such, but this album sits comfortably within the genre, without needing to overtly display Casimir’s obvious admiration for some of the jazz greats, such as Mingus, Shorter et al. Genre classification is unnecessary, just file this under ‘excellent’!
Author John Ferguson (Instagram @johnferg01) co-promotes live music at SoundCellar in Poole (www.soundcellar.org )
Balance was released on 26 July
