CD Review: HULLABALOO – DAVE MANINGTON’S RIFF RAFF

Brigitte Bereha – vocals; Tomas Challenger – tenor saxophone; Ivo Neame – piano, Fender Rhodes, Keyboards, accordion; Rob Updegraff – guitar; Dave Manington – double bass; Tim Giles – drums percussion.

(Review by Debra Milne.)

Hullabaloo, an album by Dave Manington’s Riff Raff project, developed from several years of improvisation and collaboration, with a number of London based contemporary jazz musicians. He sets his stall out in the first track, Agile, which begins with a sweet rhythmic figure, then moves through a number of time signatures and key changes, and includes a freely improvised section with bass and drums.

 Brigitte Bereha uses her voice instrumentally on this and most of the tracks. She has a supple, light sound which complements the other instruments, either following a distinct melodic line, or in harmony with the tenor sax or double bass.  Her contribution is exemplified in Lingering At The Gravy, and follows Tim Giles introductory solo, featuring delicate cymbal work and drum rolls.

The influence of the drummer‘s fluid style on Manington’s playing and writing is reflected in several tracks, where the bass is the rhythmic anchor, allowing Giles to go off on percussionary diversions.  Bereha wrote lyrics to 3 compositions, and Catch Me The Moon comes closest (but not very) to a traditional jazz ballad, with a vocal & piano introduction. As with the rest of the album, there is no obvious ‘head – solos – head‘  structure, but periods where different instruments come to the fore, either individually or in combination.  There are European influences too: Pedro Bernardo was inspired by a stay in a Spanish hill town, and conveys the relaxed pace of life, building into dynamic solos from Rob Epdegraff on guitar and Tomas Challenger on tenor sax. Ivo Neame gets his accordion out for You Can’t Eat Crisps To That, playing an up-beat, Balkan-influenced groove,   which is developed and supplemented by additional rhythms and motifs by the rest of the ensemble.  Manington named the CD after the second track Hullabaloo - a great noise or excitement,  but that  is a simplistic description  of a much more compelling musical conversation.

Loop Records Loop 1015 – distributed by Cadiz – release date January 21 2012.

Album launch date: The Vortex Jazz Club, January 28, 2013.

Debra Milne.