Article Contributed by Champagne House Media
Published on 2026-04-22
Photo: Courtesy of Brownswood Recordings
Gary Bartz and London ensemble Your Brother’s Keeper collaborate on Where Rivers Meet, a deeply intuitive new studio album capturing a rare meeting between generations of jazz musicians. Released on June 19, 2026 via Brownswood Recordings, as the label celebrates its 20th anniversary, the record brings together Bartz’s jazz lineage and a new collective emerging from London’s vibrant jazz scene. The result is music that unfolds with openness and intensity, guided by deep listening and collective improvisation.
At the center of the project is Bartz, one of the most influential voices in modern jazz. A saxophonist whose career spans more than five decades, Bartz emerged performing with Charles Mingus, Max Roach, and Art Blakey before joining Miles Davis during the trumpeter’s electrifying early-1970s period. He soon became a defining figure of the spiritual jazz movement through his celebrated NTU Troop recordings, creating a body of work that continues to resonate across generations of musicians and listeners alike. His playing — lyrical, searching, and unmistakably soulful — remains one of the most distinctive voices in jazz.
The album also marks the arrival of Your Brother’s Keeper, a new collective assembled by drummer and producer Jake Long and rooted in shared musical dialogue and improvisation. Featuring Ali MacSween (piano, synthesizers and modular FX), Axel Kaner-Lidstrom (trumpet), Twm Dylan (double bass), Tim Doyle (percussion), and Chelsea Carmichael (tenor saxophone), alongside Long on drums, the group reflects a scene that has reshaped the sound of contemporary jazz over the past decade.
The roots of the collaboration trace back to 2019, when broadcaster and Brownswood founder Gilles Peterson invited Long to put together an ensemble to back Bartz for a performance at the inaugural We Out Here festival, followed by a concert at London’s Royal Festival Hall. The meeting proved instantly powerful, bringing together Bartz’s deep jazz lineage with a new generation of musicians emerging from London’s cross-pollinating jazz scene.
Soon after, the musicians traveled to Haarlem in the Netherlands to record a session for Night Dreamer Records’ direct-to-disc series, performed live in the studio and cut straight to vinyl. Released under Gary Bartz and Maisha (Long’s previous band), the ensemble captured a moment of raw musical immediacy, where instinct and collective energy guided the performance. From the outset, the musicians seemed instinctively in tune with one another, forging a shared musical language that would continue to evolve during a period of touring that followed the release of that album.
On Where Rivers Meet, that creative dialogue enters a new phase through Your Brother’s Keeper, a collaborative project that brings Gary Bartz together with this distinctive collection of musicians in a more exploratory studio setting. Building on the deep musical connection established in earlier collaborations, the intention was not simply to accompany Bartz, but to place his unmistakable saxophone voice within a contemporary sonic landscape.
At times, Bartz’s playing is subtly processed live through modular synths, with additional textures shaped in post-production. In doing so, the music continues the lineage of modal jazz from the 1960s and 1970s while looking forward, exploring what might emerge when an artist so deeply rooted in the jazz tradition is situated within an entirely new sound world.
While some compositions were brought into the sessions, many had grown out of an earlier improvisation the group shared with Bartz several months prior, carrying traces of that initial encounter into the studio. Once there, the material remained open and malleable, with the musicians extending, deconstructing, and reshaping ideas through collective improvisation — grooves, textures, and structures gradually surfacing through instinct and interaction rather than predefined form.
“When we first began exploring music for a new album while Gary was in London we arranged to have a playing and writing session in the basement of my old studio in Woolwich,” says Long. “The band had arrived early to get everything ready, so by the time Gary walked in there was already a microphone patched through the modular system. Within moments Gary had his saxophone out and began playing. As he explored and reacted to the cascading granular delays and pitch-shifted sounds coming from the modular, it was clear that this was the direction the record should take.”
Alongside Long — who has collaborated with artists including Shabaka Hutchings, Nubya Garcia, Nala Sinephro, Joe Armon-Jones, Rosie Turton, Zara McFarlane, and Theon Cross — all the musicians that make up Your Brother’s Keeper have each worked with a range of artists across London’s jazz and experimental music scenes. Together they contribute to a generation of musicians expanding the boundaries of contemporary jazz. With Your Brother’s Keeper however, the focus shifts firmly toward collective expression — a band built around openness, trust, and the freedom to explore.
Across the record, that spirit is palpable — a musical confluence where generations, traditions, and improvisational voices flow together. The deep lineage carried by Bartz meets the exploratory energy of London’s contemporary scene, creating music that feels both rooted and searching.
Where Rivers Meet is released on Brownswood Recordings on June 19, 2026.
