Sounds of Color – Black Nile

The saxophone of Aaron Shaw and the electric bass of his brother Lawrence Shaw seem to share a memory that predates any composition. They grew up playing music together in Los Angeles, and that familiarity runs through Sounds of Color, their 2019 debut, where jazz coexists with hip-hop, soul, psychedelia, and electronic music without the need to draw boundaries.

There is something deeply physical about this music: the instruments listen, anticipate, and respond to one another, as though improvisation were a natural extension of the conversation between the two brothers.

The presence of other musicians expands the album's expressive possibilities. On “Mystery,” Victor Ekpo’s violin, Emile Martinez’s flugelhorn, and Jelani Semaj’s voice introduce an almost cinematic dimension, while “Drive,” featuring Tyler Cole, brings rap into an instrumental framework that retains its improvisational freedom. “Revival,” featuring TRU Sounds, finds a lightness in Aaron’s flute and Mekala Session’s drumming that contrasts with the density of the preceding passages. The brothers seem interested in discovering just how much their musical language can transform when the instrumentation, the pulse, or the presence of a voice changes.

Sounds of Color also offers a glimpse into the musical history of Los Angeles, a city where African American jazz traditions have continued to evolve in dialogue with generations of producers, improvisers, and hip-hop musicians. Black Nile belongs to that conversation, but its distinctive character emerges above all from the relationship between two brothers who have learned to create music through shared listening. In their hands, composition provides a starting point, and every instrumental encounter opens up a different possibility. Perhaps that is why the album conveys such a particular sense of movement: it never seems overly concerned with reaching a destination.