Theon Cross - Fyah

Bandcamp Daily

The U.K. jazz artist's latest is an exquisite triumph.

The Guardian 80

(Gearbox)

Despite boasting the gravitas of tectonic plates rubbing together, the tuba is not usually a lead instrument. Fyah, though, is tuba don Theon Cross’s debut solo album. The Sons of Kemet tubist alternates between rhythm and lead, and when he’s not the star of the track, ensemble players circle around the gravitational pull of Cross’s rumble-tone. Several instrumental voices are familiar on Fyah, where a debt to Caribbean-adjacent south London sounds such as calypso and drum’n’bass is palpable. Fellow hot-horn Nubya Garcia on tenor sax and drum stalwart Moses Boyd figure extensively; honourable mentions, too, to guitarist Artie Zaitz and alternate sax player Wayne Francis, also of the famed Steam Down improv nights.

As with Kemet, the tracklisting provides a history lesson. Album highlight Candace of Meroe – a brisk, highlife-inflected workout that demands dancing – is named after the ancient queens of the Ethiopian/Sudanese region. You struggle to comprehend how the extraordinary sounds near its inception are coming out of a tuba (via a wah-wah effect). On The Offerings and Radiation, Cross’s prowling tone is slung so low as to sound filthy. One can only hope his lips and lungs are insured.

Pitchfork 75

A player in Shabaka Hutchings’ Sons of Kemet and a key figure in London’s vital jazz scene, Cross brings new energy to the tuba, an instrument long neglected in jazz and hits offshoots.