# CD review: Joseph Herbst Sextet – This Is Our Environment 2021: Video, CD cover

- Link: https://jazzblues.eu/2021/02/16/cd-review-joseph-herbst-sextet-this-is-our-environment-2021-video-cd-cover/
- Published: 2021-02-16T21:33:49+01:00
- Author: https://JazzBlues.EU

**The very title of the album suggests that it is not only about the music. And 
indeed it is. A composer and saxophonist from North Carolina, a graduate of the 
University of Michigan, Joseph Herbst considers the most important thing in his 
life to be an active struggle for environmental protection, and he interprets this
concept extremely broadly. And music for him is only a means in order to convey 
his views, his pain to as many people as possible. **

This was fully manifested in his debut album This Is Our Environment, recorded by
Joseph’s sextet with the involvement of a large group of guests. Seven of the fourteen
compositions are just speech, sounding against one or another musical background,
composed by Joseph. He asked four different people the same question: “What is environmental
protection to you?” and set their answers to music.

The other half of the album is jazz pieces performed by Herbst’s sextet, often with
the involvement of vocalist Aubrey Johnson, but again related to different aspects
of the same problem. Solastalgia tells about the sad fate of the tiny Pacific island
state of Nauru, whose whole life was built on phosphate mining, which practically
destroyed the natural nature of the island. Is this my fault? talks about the problems
of people forced to live in places with highly polluted water. Iron Eyes has a more
optimistic story: it is about the Sioux Indians who got the federal government to
refuse to lay an oil pipeline through their territory.

The final composition Visions of Freedom carries the idea that no one can feel free
individually until all the inhabitants of our planet are free. These environmental
and social issues Herbst raises, performing close to the mainstream, very high-quality
jazz, where, as a rule, Herbst himself and the second horn of the sextet, trumpet
player Ewen Taylor, in interaction with the rhythm group and, first of all, pianist
Luther Ellison, perform the solo. The album is unusual in its theme, but in itself
the jazz of Herbst’s sextet evokes no less respect for its quality than the views
of its leader.

 1.  They Say There Are Beautiful Trees
 2.  Momma Nature
 3.  Solastalgia
 4.  Mama E
 5.  Is this my fault?
 6.  Erring of the Revolution Pt. 1
 7.  Make No Cents
 8.  Erring of the Revolution Pt. 2
 9.  Iron Eyes
 10. LEGACY
 11. Estrange Us
 12. Communion
 13. Simple Life
 14. Visions of Freedom

**Joseph Herbst- as,ss; Evan Taylor – tp, flg; Luther S. Allison – p, Rhodes; Zach
McKinney – dr; Peter Martin – g; Liany Mateo – b; with Aubrey Johnson – voc (tks
1,3,5,7,9,12); Dasan Ahanu (tk 2), Cynthia ‘THiA’ Sharpe (tk 4), Yexandra ‘Yex’ 
Diaz (tks 6,8), RaShad Eas (tks 10, 12, 13) – spoken word.**

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