Holland/Potter/Loueke/Harland: Aziza CD review – ace new jazz quartet with global influences

Any jazz group that includes US-schooled Beninese guitarist Lionel Loueke is likely to have a strong world-music flavour, and this new quartet – led by double-bass legend Dave Holland and completed by virtuoso saxist Chris Potter and drummer Eric Harland – brims over with Latin, Caribbean and African influences. Harland’s foxily rocking backbeat on Aziza’s Dance shifts via a very catchy guitar hook into a cool and slinky jazz-rock cruiser while Potter’s inventiveness and playfulness spring surprises all through the set without sacrificing the groove. The saxophonist’s Summer 15 has a soft Caribbean sway; the long and sinewy Blue Sufi powerfully mixes a staccato and stuttery tenor sax opening over Loueke’s jangling chordwork and features some gracefully rolling improv from Holland; while the haunting Friends features Potter at his most fluent. Sleepless Night, with its snorty unison line and Africanised vocal chant, unleashes the most uninhibited playing from a band that promises to be killer live.