Two Banks of Four
Three Street Worlds

Going through the CDs and browsing the hard drive to try to compile the playlist of the year, I realized that the album that went through my player the most times in 2004 is, oddly enough, from 2003: it's "Three Street Worlds" by London's Two Banks of Four.
Their name might not mean much to most people. The project started four years ago, and this is their second work; but the members of the collective belong to the "nobility" of the acid jazz scene, club culture, nu jazz, dancefloor of the English capital, which has its roots in the now distant '80s, with historically jazzy groups like Style Council and Working Week, a true melting pot of multicultural London, the famous "melting pot," pacifist, committed to minority rights, that aspect of the multifaceted metropolis that contributed not a little to making me love it.

The mastermind of the ensemble is Rob Gallagher, leader of the disbanded Galliano, one of the best bands that emerged from the famous label Talkin' Loud by Gilles Peterson, a seal of guarantee for all acid jazz and related works. Alongside him are, among others, an equal partner, producer and musician Dillip Harris and Valerie Etienne, one of the splendid voices appearing on the album, already known to fans from her time with Galliano.
Gallagher and his companions pick up the thread, consistent with their musical creed, right where it was interrupted with the end of the most productive season of acid jazz, a genre that includes different musical styles but shares the common denominator of trying to coexist the new black music (rap, but also clubdance) with the classic one (soul, reggae) and with jazz, in particular.

So, the innovations are not striking. T.B.f.4 are aware that many have now recognized the worth of that musical proposal and that today many are those who have followed in the footsteps of groups like Galliano and Young Disciples (just think of the current nu jazz scene, from Jazzanova to Koop, or musicians like Nicola Conte). Yet they, essentially with the same ingredients, manage to achieve remarkable results, between innovation and classicism, and the right balance between more rhythmic moments and others more contemplative.
In "Three Street Worlds" jazz is more present as a source of inspiration, especially the more "spiritual" one of the late '60s and early '70s, Alice Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Garnett, the latter also having a cover, "Banks of the Nile"; but there's also the downtempo that stands out in "Stiles" and "Endless"; the never monotonous drum'n'bass of "Closer", of "Rising," titles that recall some of the most successful compositions of other "alchemists" trying to play with the same sounds and who frequent the same environments, like 4 Hero.

Gallagher's consistency should nonetheless be rewarded; his team's efforts deserve more fortune: it's quality music, versatile, good for dancing intelligently and also atmospheric; above all, it's music that transmits positive energy, warmth, that envelops you and takes you to the smoky jazz clubs of London Town.
Ultimately, it's music to get to know each other, even in the biblical sense.