Seb Pipe's Life Experience @The Bridge Hotel - Sunday 27th November

Seb Pipe (alto sax); Arthur Lea (keyboards); Rich Gold (guitar); Kevin Glasgow (bass); George Hart (drums)

Isn't it a pity, isn't a shame - sadly anticipated by the 'slightly angry' Paul B in his recent

Jazz Alert - that a band likeSeb Pipe's LE should travel all this way from the southern capital to be greeted only by a handful of old faithfuls, some quite young, spread thinly through the Bridge upstairs; surely the soul of jazz stems from open-mindedness, yet it seems that if the band's name isn't familiar the telly stays on and the car sits outside, cold and forlorn. This sanctimoniousness is of course simply intended to divert attention from my inability to put notional cyber pen to paper until now - can't be that bothered if he's waited 6 days t' say summit! Well there it is, maybe it's just cos Christmas is comin'! 

Get on with it!! I lingered too long as usual in the anteroom so the first number, Star Eyes, a romantic vision of diamonds on deep blue velvet, drew me into my seat and, being impressed by the unique tight sound of SP'sLE, my pen gravitated towards the odd bits of paper on the table in front of me. 

Trassouet, positively ECM with hints of EST, from Seb's Pyrenean experiences began with a promising Yamaha 6-string bass intro, which turned into a bit of an extended foothills ramble. I really loved the warmth of the descending 3 chord theme - sometimes with a 'see how they run' reply, but you can have too much of a good thing - for me a bit more reflection and modulation on this trek could have widened the vista on these mountains. There was no sitting still to Tiscali, set in Sardinia, this contrapuntal number had me moving in my seat, Kevin giving us some excellent John Patitucci-esque, Brazilian waterfront developments. 

Cerca de ti - Closer to you - gave George a chance to open on his blindingly yellow sun kit - very impressive percussion with some wonderful piano work from Arthur Lea.

In set 2, with Full Steam, their impressive counterpoint moved into a 4th dimension with a seamless transition into Reggae and eventually back to bebop, showcasing the band's fingertip control with Arthur and Seb really bouncing the theme around and Rich making some initially hesitant but eventually confident moves on the fretboard as Seb gallantly kneeled down to give us a better view of their guitarist. The last number before the encore, Manintal Din Sig, was a celebration of Seb's Romanian experience - he's a well-travelled bloke obviously and the clever complex chromatics of this composition reflected his take on the lively and passionate music of Eastern Europe - arousing sounds.

I was pleased that I went to see these 5 talented and good-humoured young men from London - a solid performance with outstanding dynamics control, sometimes maybe even a bit too pianissimo subtle for the genre, which crescendoed with their energetically deserved encore - Woobe - Seb's composition, also featuring him on some scat-ripping rap with typically contrapuntal prestidigitation - nice!V!

Check out some live performances on http://www.myspace.com/sebpipe showing the band playing happily to packed audiences!
Photos.

George M.