Roger Wickham

Originally from Brighton but long nomadically pinging between Spain, the UK and the Middle East, saxophonist and flautist Chip Wickham has spent years threading together spiritual jazz, modal hard bop and soul with a distinctly lyrical voice. This is his fifth solo LP and his latest for Gondwana, where he's been a key collaborator since Matthew Halsall's debut. 'Drifting' sets the tone with rippling percussion and misty flute, before 'Nara Black' swells into a swirling groove of strings, keys and a dreamy vocal from Peach. Elsewhere, Wickham's strength lies in his sense of movement: 'Lost Souls' and 'No Turning Back' unfurl slowly, like paths revealed through a forest, while 'Falling Deep' builds into a kind of rapture. The flute-led title track and the wistful closer 'Outside' feel suspended in time, evoking the record's central theme: art as an escape from linear thought. Though its palette nods to giants like Yusef Lateef and Harold McNair, this is unmistakably Wickham's world-lush, hypnotic and filled with wonder.