Skip to main content
Album review: An unlikely pairing
Romanian folk and Motor City blues combine for some stonking jazz. Review by CHRIS SEARLE Lucian Ban and Alex Harding Somethin’ Holy (CIMP 274), Premonition (CIMP 274) and Tuba Project (CIMP 337)

A SINGULAR and unlikely pairing they are: a baritone saxophonist born in Detroit in 1967 when the sounds of Tamla Motown were at their apex, and a pianist from the Transylvanian village of Seaca in agricultural Romania, born in 1969, where he grew up listening to the folk music played by his family at weddings, birthdays and festivals.

Alex Harding started his musical life playing drums, then heard Grover Washington on the radio and switched to tenor saxophone at high school.

He gained a musical scholarship from the University of Massachusetts, then migrated to New York in 1993 and toured with a Haitian band before hugely influential stints with Muhal Richard Abrams, Lester Bowie, Oliver Lake and David Murray’s big band.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
searle review
Music Review / 15 July 2026
15 July 2026

CHRIS SEARLE urges you to listen to two new albums by the US Indian pianist VIJAY IYER

kraabel
Interview / 8 July 2026
8 July 2026

CHRIS SEARLE speaks to US saxophonist CAROLINE KRAABEL

ahmed
Jazz Album Review / 20 May 2026
20 May 2026

CHRIS SEARLE recommends a new album featuring Pat Thomas and Ahmed, and marvels at the tempestuous power of a live performance

Arin Keshishi Quintet on stage / Pic: Artstage
Culture / 24 November 2025
24 November 2025

As part of the 2025 London Jazz Festival Rich Mix offered intriguing sessions titled 'Persian Jazz,' CHRIS SEARLE was there