The likes of Don Cherry, Randy Weston and Joe Zawinul all enjoyed memorable collaborations with Morocco’s legendary Gnawa, the religious brotherhoods whose pentatonic healing music is well disposed to superior jazz fusion. With chugging rhythms bolstered by side drums, giant iron karkabou castanets and the centre-ofthe-earth riffs of the guimbri-bass, this is music as open and infinite as it is tricky and deceptive: not just any old jazzer can find a way in. Marrakechborn Aziz Sahmaoui is at an advantage, original singer with Paris-based institution Orchestre National de Barbes and a former associate of Zawinul, this self-appointed dean of the University of Gnawa knows his Moroccan stuff (there’s chaabi in here too) as well as he knows his jazz. Musical links with sub-Saharan Africa are explored without cliché, the results, both live (as evidenced by their turn at WOMAD this year) and on this debut disc, are lively and compelling.