MOOR MOTHER ANNOUNCES NEW ALBUM ‘JAZZ CODES’
COMING OUT JULY 1
WATCH VIDEO FOR NEW TRACK “WOODY SHAW”
FEAT. MELANIE CHARLES
SUMMER TOUR DATES ANNOUNCED
“IT’S POETRY THAT DRIVES THIS ALBUM. THE STORIES OF THESE ARTISTS AND
COUNTLESS OTHERS NOT NAMED BUT FELT – IS THE LEADING MOTIVATION. I WANTED TO HONOR & GIVE OFFERINGS, HOLD THEM IN MY BODY, DREAM WITH THEM, SEND SWEETNESS.” – CAMAE AYEWA
Called “the poet laureate of the apocalypse” by Pitchfork, Moor Mother is announcing ‘Jazz Codes’ today; coming out on July 1, it is her second album for ANTI- and a companion to her celebrated 2021 release ’Black Encyclopedia of the Air‘. Alongside today’s album announcement she has shared a video for the new track ”Woody Shaw” feat. Melanie Charles. Directed by Cyrus Moussavi, watch it below.
Watch Woody Shaw”: https://youtu.be/-TxK3LjJQnA
“Woody Shaw” was filmed in the Leimert Park headquarters of the Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra, founded in 1961 by Horace Tapscott with the vision of promoting a true community orchestra dedicated to Black music in South Central LA. Though Tapscott passed in ‘99, PAPA still goes strong under the leadership of his son, Mekala.
’Jazz Codes’ uses poetry as a starting point, but the collection moves toward more melody, more singing voices, more choruses and more complexity. In its warm, densely layered course through jazz, blues, soul, hip-hop, ’Jazz Codes’ sets the ear blissfully adrift and unhitches the mind from habit. Through her work, Ayewa illuminates the principles of her interdisciplinary collaborative practice Black Quantum Futurism, a theoretical framework for creating counter-chronologies and envisioning Black quantum womanist futures that rupture exclusionary versions of history and future through art, writing, music, and performance.
Moor Mother – aka the songwriter, composer, vocalist, poet, and visual artist Camae Ayewa – is also a professor at the University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music. She released her debut album Fetish Bones in 2016 and has since put out an abundance of acclaimed music, both as a solo artist and in collaboration with other musicians who share her drive to dig up the untold. She is a member of many other groups including the free jazz group Irreversible Entanglements, 700 bliss and moor jewelry. She has also toured and recorded with The Art Ensemble of Chicago and Nicole Mitchell.
This summer Moor Mother will be performing at Documenta 15, Montreal Jazz Festival and various other European festivals; she will also be headlining an album release show at Los Angeles’s Resident on July 8. All upcoming dates are listed below.
Praise for Moor Mother:
“Like a blossom emerging from between the floorboards of a slaughterhouse, Moor Mother’s music is an act of transcending a violent, intolerable present.” – The Fader
“It’s not whether she’s established her voice at this point, but whether you choose to truly listen.” – Bandcamp
“An innovative synthesis of beats, cacophony, and lyricism dealing with Afrofuturism, collective memory, spiritual journeys, and a hundred other deep-cut influences and sources of creative inspiration.” – AV Club
“Moor Mother’s talent for creating layers of dynamic, textural noise to complement the music and lyrics never leave a track feeling hollow, instead lending each one a sense of perpetual cosmic expansion.” – Paste Magazine
TOUR DATES
5/27 – Berlin, Germany – CTM Festival
5/30 – Ljubljana, Slovenia – Druga Godba Festival
6/16 – Lucerne, Switzerland – B Sides Festival
6/23 – Mannheim, Germany – Mannheim Triennale
6/25 – Toulouse, France – Les Siestes Electroniques
6/27 – Bolzano, Italy – Alte Adige Festival
6/30 – Roskilde, Denmark – Roskilde Festival
7/2 – Budapest, Hungary – Kolorado Festival
7/4 – Montreal, Canada – Montreal Jazz Fest
7/8 – Los Angeles, CA – Resident
8/8 – Wiltshire, UK – End of the Road Festival
8/10 – Berlin, Germany – A L’larme! X Berlin 10
Photo Credit: Samantha Isasian
Pre-Order ’Jazz Codes’
1. UMZANSI (feat Black Quantum Futurism featuring Mary Lattimore)
2. APRIL 7th (feat Keir Neuringer)
3. GOLDEN LADY (feat Melanie Charles)
4. JOE MCPHEE NATION TIME INTRO (feat Keir Neuringer)
5. ODE TO MARY (feat Orion Sun & Jason Moran)
6. WOODY SHAW (feat Melanie Charles)
7. MEDITATION RAG (feat Aquiles Navarro & Alya Al Sultani)
8. SO SWEET AMINA (feat Justmadnice & Keir Neuringer)
9. DUST TOGETHER (feat Wolf Weston & Aquiles Navarro)
10. RAP JASM (feat AKAI SOLO & Justmadnice)
11. BLUES AWAY (feat Fatboi Sharif)
12. BLAME (feat Justmadnice)
13. ARMS SAVE (feat Nicole Mitchell)
14. REAL TRILL HOURS (feat Yung Morpheus)
15. EVENING (feat Wolf Weston)
16. BARELY WOKE (feat Wolf Weston)
17. NOISE JISM
18. THOMAS STANLEY JAZZCODES OUTRO (feat Irreversible Entanglements & Thomas Stanley)
19. BLACK HONEY (feat. Loijj & Honeychile) (bonus track)
20. WE GOT THE JAZZ (feat. Kyle Kidd, Keir Neuringer, Aquiles Navarro) (bonus track)
21. BLACK DUST BLUES (feat. Elaine Mitchener) (bonus track)