Ottawa is not a city one might expect to spawn an Afro-jazz big band, but a dozen years since their formation this Canadian collective remain in rude good health. Their default setting is brass-heavy Afrobeat – opener Greet the Dawn is typical – though they hybridise constantly with Latin and funk. The arrangements are elaborate and precision played, and the band boast a couple of bravura saxophonists for their looser, more experimental moments. They slip in some elements of skipping French Caribbean zouk on Courage, but power rather than swing is the SJO’s thing, and while they have upped their vocal output here, the right-on slogans don’t take you far. Life Is What You Make It – this is news?
