Sarah Jane Morris & Tony Remy
Sweet Little Mystery
(Fallen Angel)
★★★★★

One of the finest of improvisational jazz voices and most fluid of intricate guitarists has joined their supple skills together to create a supreme homage to one of folk/jazz’s more colourful personalities. In fact, they breathe new life with their astute interpretations of songs created by maverick influencer John Martyn on this lovingly curated album.

Composed about Martyn’s fellow tragic folk minstrel Nick Drake, Morris’ extraordinary contralto voice plumbs the fathomless depths on Martyn’s signature song Solid Air. Sassily re-inventing some of Martyn’s more mawkish tunes such as Call Me with jazzy notes and re-shaping Carmine with her feral vocal attack is a masterstroke by Morris and Co.

The heart-wrenching beauty of Couldn’t Love You More, May You Never and One World are magnificently re-touched and sonically sculpted into songs beyond their original forms.

Like spooning musical medicine into the ear, the beating heart of this exquisitely crafted album lies in the subtle performances by Morris and her ensemble which elevate these bitter-sweet songs into epic, ethereal mysteries. (https://www.express.co.uk/entertainment/music/1128149/Sarah-Jane-Morris-Tony-Remi-Big-Big-Train-Nazareth-review-new-album-releases)