Para Sayo, by Joshua Banks
'Para Sayo' by Joshua Banks
For Filipino Canadian pianist Joshua Banks, jazz has been a way to explore an identity for which he feels disconnected. Para Sayo (Tagalog for “for you”) is the sound of the Albertan artist’s journey to piece together his island roots. It may remind some listeners of a post-bop Bob James with a grander melodic sweep; but Banks comes to his debut album as a bandleader with a conservatory student's tenure and fellow Asian keyboard virtuosos like Nanhe Sol, Kie Kitagi, and Hiromi Uehara.
Banks' employment of multiple drummers and saxophonists, Rodes organ, and what amounts to a string quartet lend textural heft to his already often sprawling approach. Accentuating the Eastern emphasis of Banks' outing are the vocal contributions of Filipina Canadian singer/lyricist Hazel Cavila and rapper Tea Fannie (the latter of whom speaks for herself and Banks as non-heterosexual folk). Even more intriguingly, Corazon Banks (no relation?) contributes a spoken passage in the Ibaloi language native to the Philippines' Cordiellera mountains. If all of that isn't adventurous enough, Banks reprises a Beatles melody to introduce Fannie's concluding rap tune. Para Sayo can be much to wade through but offers an aural trek fulfilling as Banks must hope his search for knowing his full personhood is.
