Jazz Sabbath - The 1968 Tapes

By its own tongue-in-cheek legend, Jazz Sabbath wrote these songs first, and The 1968 Tapes, released in 2024 on 180 gram vinyl, keeps the joke running beautifully.

Behind the gag is Adam Wakeman, the keyboard player who has toured with Black Sabbath and played in Ozzy Osbourne's band. In the Jazz Sabbath universe he becomes Milton Keanes, leader of an overlooked late-sixties piano trio whose tunes were supposedly lifted by a certain Birmingham rock band. The mockumentary backstory is pure comedy, but the musicianship is serious, and this third album presents itself as a newly unearthed session from the year the trio claims to have recorded it.

The arrangements recast heavy metal staples as piano trio jazz, played with a completely straight face. Into the Void becomes a cool, swinging workout, Spiral Architect reveals the lovely melody hiding inside the original, and Electric Funeral takes on a smoky, noir-ish mood. War Pigs, closing the album, is reimagined with a sly swagger that would not sound out of place in a late-night club.

Jack Tustin's upright bass gives the record a warm, woody foundation.

For Sabbath fans with a sense of humour and jazz lovers who enjoy a clever reinvention, this is a genuinely delightful listen.