Bandcamp contributor Phillip Mlynar delves into the world of clarinetist and spiritual jazz soothsayer Angel Bat Dawid.
“When Angel Bat Dawid feels the calling to write a song, she’ll walk over to her collection of 300 spiritual jazz albums that she keeps in the attic of the Radcliffe Hunter mansion in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, where she lives as part of an artist residency program. She’ll pick out a record by Albert Ayler or Ornette Coleman, or maybe something by John Coltrane or Henry Threadgill, or perhaps a rarer release on the Black Jazz or Strata East labels. She’ll cue the record up and play along on clarinet or piano, improvising and navigating around the song. After a while, she’ll lock into an idea and retreat to write out some chords. Then she’ll leave the fertile thought alone for a day or so, while she retires to read one of Yusef Lateef’s little known science fiction novels, or study up on spiritual jazz theory. That’s usually when inspiration hits.
“‘That’s always the part where I know what to do, I know what needs to go where,’ says Bat Dawid. ‘I need loads of free time for my songwriting, but it’s a process that works, and I love composing this way.’ This process has turned The Oracle, Bat Dawid’s debut album for International Anthem, into one of the most intimate and soulful jazz albums of recent times, filled with songs that deliver empowering affirmations and feelings of reflection through a spiritual jazz lens.
Listen to Angel Bat Dawid’s ‘The Oracle’ and catch her European premiere with her seven-piece ensemble That Brotherhood at Rewire 2019 on Saturday, 30 March. Learn more at Angel Bat Dawid.
Rewire 2019 Festival Passes and Day Passes are now available atTickets.