A few years ago, Where Future Unfolds, the debut from Damon Locks – Black Monument Ensemble, tied with The Orcale by Angel Bat Dawid for my album of 2019. Both records seemed to speak to something in African-American culture that owed as much to the past's visions of a black future, as it did to the grim realities of the present for people of color in this country. And while the Locks project, featuring Angel Bat Dawid, was a record that seemed big, the new one from Damon Locks – Black Monument Ensemble is more focused, more concise, but still invigorating and complex.
NOW, out tomorrow via International Anthem, finds Damon and the players this time out -- Angel Bat Dawid (clarinet), Ben LaMar Gay (cornet & melodica), Dana Hall (drums), Arif Smith (percussion), and singers Phillip Armstrong, Monique Golding, Tramaine Parker, Richie Parks, Erica Rene, and Eric Tre’von -- focusing the force of their playing on making sense of the present. There's a palpable sense of 2020 here, and at the same time an indication that things have got to get better for everyone. From the epic and life-affirming "The Body is Electric", and to "NOW (Forever Momentary Space)", with its combination of cornet and clarinet jostling with percussion, there's energy here that's barely contained by the recording. And while this feels like a live record (the players' dialogue at the end of some of these pieces helps with that effect), the whole project strikes me as more inwardly focused. From the spoken word samples anchoring the paranoia of "The People vs the Rest of Us" to those that serve as an introduction to the rhythmic "Keep Your Mind Free", a real highlight here, the vocals, words, and samples all add to the feeling that NOW is a dialogue happening in real time, a discussion of the state of the black soul that we're overhearing.
Locks' greatest strength is as the organizer behind the whole effort. Dawid's clarinet and vocals carry more weight here than they perhaps did on the last record by the ensemble, with Gay's clarinet and melodica doing similar feats of heavy lifting. Rarely do those two musicians seem to be vying for the spotlight, with each player taking turns in guiding the pieces towards the sun. Things throughout NOW churn and seem to be turning upon themselves, but the release heard in closer "The Body is Electric" is palpable. As the bookend to the incantatory "NOW", the finale of the record sends everything out on a celebratory vibe. The mental rigor of jazz rules some of these pieces but the soul is rewarded at the conclusion. That euphoric expression of feeling is what gives this hope, the sense that NOW is a record of now, and that the future will be (has to be) better.
NOW by Damon Locks – Black Monument Ensemble is out tomorrow on International Anthem.