Last year, Alabaster DePlume released GOLD – Go Forward in the Courage of Your Love on the highly acclaimed Chicacgo-based Internation Anthem label. The critically acclaimed 19-track spiritual jazz album was also featured in ‘Best Albums of 2022’ lists by NPR Music, Pitchfork, The Guardian and MOJO.
He has today announced a follow-up, Come With Fierce Grace, and shared the album’s lead single, “Did You Know,” which features the hauntingly beautiful vocals of Momoko Gill (aka MettaShiba), who takes the key poem from GOLD and translates it into her own lyrics. Gill had already delivered the message of the poem and sang it across tons of shows with Alabaster – but with her performance on “Did You Know”, she lays out her own meaning for the words. Musically and vocally, the track has a captivating silken feel, heightened by organic-sounding improvised percussion and the whispers of DePlume’s soft saxophone playing.
About ‘Come With Fierce Grace‘: In order to record the compositions in his critically-acclaimed 2022 release GOLD, DePlume instilled a culture of creativity by leading his ensembles in spontaneous composition and development. To allow them to be present, he kept the musicians constantly creating across several weeks of sessions at London creative hub Total Refreshment Centre. This process resulted in an abundance of material, much more than he could fit onto the initial double LP. After spending most of 2022 touring in support of GOLD, Alabaster spent much of early 2023 revisiting the additional material from those Total Refreshment Centre sessions – adding, subtracting, producing and arranging – resulting in an entirely new album, Come With Fierce Grace.
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UK & EU DATES
7 Jul 2023 – Rotterdam, The Netherlands @ North Sea Jazz
9 Jul 2023 – Lausanne, Switzerland @ Festival de la Cité
14 Jul 2023 – Ghent, Belgium @ Boomtown
15 Jul 2023 – Paris, France @ Paris Jazz
5 Aug 2023 – Eigg, Scotland @ Howlin’ Fling
11 Aug 2023 – Dorset, UK @ We Out Here
19 Aug 2023 – Buckinghamshire, UK @ Stowaway
20 Aug 2023 – Brecon Beacons, Wales @ GreenMan
7-Nov-2023 – Leeds, UK @ Brudenell Social Club
8-Nov-2023 – Manchester, UK @ Band On The Wall
9-Nov-2023 – Nottingham, UK @ Metronome
10-Nov-2023 – London, UK @ KOKO, Pitchfork Music Festival
11-Nov-2023 – Bristol, UK @ Strange Brew
12-Nov-2023 – Brighton, UK @ Chalk
US & CA DATES
26 Aug 2023 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Getty
27 Aug 2023 – Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon
29 Aug 2023 – San Diego, CA @ Whistle Stop
30 Aug 2023 – Ojai, CA @ Deer Lodge
1 Sep 2023 – Modesto, CA @ The Speakeasy at Greens on Tenth
2 Sep 2023 – San Francisco, CA @ The Chapel
3 Sep 2023 – Santa Cruz, CA @ Kuumbawa Jazz Center
5 Sep 2023 – Portland, OR @ Polaris Hall
6 Sep 2023 – Seattle, WA @ Sunset Tavern
8 Sep 2023 – Boise, ID @ Neurolux
10 Sep 2023 – Denver, CO @ Ophelia’s
15 Sep 2023 – Chicago, IL @ Co-Prosperity
16 Sep 2023 – Chicago, IL @ Co-Prosperity
17 Sep 2023 – Toronto, ON @ Rivoli
18 Sep 2023 – Montreal, QC @ Bar Le Ritz
20 Sep 2023 – New Orleans, LA @ Music Box Village
22 Sep 2023 – Brooklyn, NY @ Elsewhere Hall
24 Sep 2023 – Accord, NY @ Woodsist Festival