Paul Loraine (keyboards), Tom Quilliam (saxophone),
Ian ‘Dodge’ Paterson (bass) & Jonathan Marriott (drums)
(Review by Russell)
Live at Manchester Jazz
Festival is the Slowlight
Quartet’s follow-up to the five track EP In
Flight. The ‘live’ element is particularly welcome as the band is best
heard performing in front of an audience. Composer-in-chief Paul Loraine wrote
six of the seven tracks, the seventh is from the pen of saxophonist Tom
Quilliam. The Slowlight sound is that of Paul Loraine’s tunes evolving from considered
piano, saxophone or bass intros, developing the group sound.
Tom Quilliam’s scorching tenor emerges on several
numbers – notably Walking Spanish, This Time and Shifting Ground – burning brightly, then dimmed, subservient to the
group dynamic. This is expertly executed stuff; Ian Paterson’s bass playing the
foundation, as is Jonathan Marriott (drums) whose driving sticks-work on Shifting Ground sustains a level of
excitement appreciated by the 2014 Manchester Jazz Festival crowd.
Quilliam’s This
Time hears the composer go through the gears; on this and the remaining six
tracks, Paul Loraine’s reassuring presence keeps a tight reign on his band
mates, thus retaining the Slowlight Quartet’s hugely impressive and instantly
identifiable sound.
Russell.
The Slowlight Quartet – Live
at Manchester Jazz Festival (Jazz Sound Records Cat. No. JSR002) is available
now.
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