Axum is a solo album

Solo album

A solo album, in popular music, is an album headlined by a current or former member of a band. A solo album may feature simply one person performing all instruments, but typically features the work of other collaborators; rather, it may be made with different collaborators than the artist is...

 by American jazz flautist and composer James Newton

James Newton

James W. Newton is an American jazz flautist, composer, and conductor.-Biography:From his earliest years, James Newton grew up immersed in the sounds of African American music, including urban blues, rhythm and blues, and gospel. In his early teens he played electric bass guitar, alto saxophone,...

 recorded in 1981 and released on the ECM label.

Reception

The Allmusic review by Scott Yanow

Scott Yanow

Scott Yanow is an American jazz commentator, known for many contributions to the Allmusic website, for writing ten books on jazz and for reviewing jazz recordings for over 30 years.-Biography:...

 awarded the album 3 stars stating "James Newton's set of unaccompanied flute solos is generally more intriguing and diverse than one might expect. An expert at multiphonics (often humming through his flute in order to get more than one note at a time), Newton is also very strong at constructing logical yet utterly unpredictable improvisations. His playing on nine of his originals covers a fair amount of ground, and he alternates between three different types of flutes (his regular horn, alto flute and bass flute). Still, the results are more for specialized tastes".

Track listing

All compositions by James Newton

1. "The Dabtara" - 3:24
2. "Malak 'Uqabe" - 6:52
3. "Solomon, Chief of Wise Men" - 4:44
4. "Addis Ababa" - 2:56
5. "Choir" - 4:32
6. "Feeling" - 2:34
7. "Axum" - 4:18
8. "Susenyos and Werzelya" - 5:20
9. "The Neser" - 7:59
   • Recorded at Tonstudio Bauer in Ludwigsburg, West Germany in August 1981