Dwight Trible/The Life Force Trio: Love Is The Answer

Herald rating: * * * *

In black American jazz there is a thread of soulful yearning and astro-spiritual aspiration, a musical lineage which includes saxophonist John Coltrane, Sun Ra, saxophonists Pharoah Sanders and Julius Hemphill, and pianist Horace Tapscott who helmed the Pan Afrikan People's Arkestra. In the face of historical oppression, many musicians who had grown up with the church saw freedom somewhere out there in space. Add soul, funk and free jazz and it becomes a heady, sometimes amusingly confusing, brew.

After singing R&B and Sly Stone-styled funk-rock, then discovering the soulful Betty Carter, Dwight Trible worked with Tapscott and Sanders, and became a cult figure around LA.

Latterly his smooth sound has been rediscovered by hip DJs and producers, and this double disc is a post-modern approach to his sound: LA producer and fan Carlos Nino (one half of Ammoncontact) has sampled various Trible vocals (including his treatment of Coltrane's A Love Supreme) and with beat merchants Madlib, Jay-Dee and others, has set them within a warm, spaceflight soul groove full of subtle synth-funk, rolling bass and the occasional chiming guitar. It's full of uplifting positivity and moving songs.

The second disc is an instrumental version of many of the tracks, rounding off an impressive and life-affirming package of healing soul-jazz.

Label: Ninja Tunes/Flavour