Nathaniel Facey (alto saxophone),
Shaney Forbes (drums), Tom Farmer (double bass) & Lewis Wright (vibes)
(Review by Russell)
Tabula Rasa is Empirical’s fourth CD. The listener is encouraged to
approach the album without preconceptions, a blank slate (Tabula Rasa). Ears
open, mind receptive. A two disc CD, Empirical work with the Benyounes String Quartet,
having first encountered them at Trinity
Laban, London .
All four members of Empirical have written for the album (fourteen tracks in
total).
Keen to emphasise that the
recording isn’t simply jazz quartet with the addition of strings, the opening
track - The Simple Light Shines Brightest
(comp. Facey) - begins with the
Benyounes and Shaney Forbes’ sensitive percussion, then Lewis Wright’s vibes,
with altoist Nathaniel Facey heard latterly. The contemporary jazz feel for
which the band has become known is perhaps best represented by Empiricism (comp. Forbes) and Studies in Time (comp. Farmer). Forbes’ Where Wisdom is Found closes the first
CD with a distinct ‘jazz with strings’ format. A lush string arrangement rather
than ‘outside’ playing, without preconceptions this came as something of a
surprise!
One for ‘Bones’ (comp. Facey) opens the second CD with the
composer’s incisive, bullet-point alto encased in Wright’s ethereal vibes until Forbes breaks it up with some
sharp drumming. Wright’s The World in His
Mind, a mid tempo piece, offers space to all; Forbes’ roams across the kit,
playful alto dances this way then that and strings take it out. Facey’s
bop-inspired Scoffie (The Moody One)
lets Farmer take it for a walk as the quartet presses the accelerator.
Contemporary classical, contemporary composition, call it what you will,
Forbes’ Repentance signals another
change of direction. Dark strings, urgent vibes (right out of 1960s French New
Wave cinema), finally resolved in a pastoral stillness.
Empirical can be heard in concert
with the Benyounes String Quartet at the Purcell Room, London on October 16.
Tabula Rasa is available
now on Naim Jazz Records (naimcd 193).
Russell.
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