Shez Raja Collective: Mystic Radikal

Shez Raja taught himself electric bass, learned Indian percussion at Leeds College of Music, and plays sessions for rock and hip-hop bands, but his influences include Miles Davis, Charlie Parker, Marcus Miller and African music. The title track's repeating, descending pattern, over a jazz-rock drum groove, suggests the menu will be a familiar fusion one – but Raja's eastern influences are soon apparent in the sporadic melody of Chakras on the Wall, its theme punctuated by halts, percussive bass and a crisp backbeat from drummer Chris Nickolls. Karmic Flow maintains the atmosphere through electric violinist Pascal Roggen, and guest saxophonist Andy Sheppard, complementing the fragile tones of singer Monika Lidke, reveals broader horizons. Sheppard's concise whimsy edges between grooves on the funky Infatuation, and curls through the gentle Angel's Tears. There's a Headhunters-like bravura to some tracks, and the unruly Mandala Girl and ethereal Beauty of the Beast close an album that warms up in imagination as it progresses.