(Review by Mike Collins)
It was over an hour before Tomasz
Stanko (trumpet) reached
for the mic, his introduction of the band barely audible over the cheers
and whoops echoing round Cadogan Hall. There had been musical
announcements as Stanko let fly a conversational flurry of chromaticism,
or David Virelles (piano) sketched a few dark chords to direct
the band towards the next episode. This was a remarkable, fluid
performance, steadily intensifying over the course of the long set of
contrasting moods and textures.
Stanko’s modus operandi is
atmospheric and episodic acoustic jazz that encompasses hypnotically grooving,
loose-limbed pieces built around fragmentary hooks; languid, deceptively simple
melodies with expansive and rich harmony; jagged flurries of notes over racing
meters. The accompanying trio, completed by Reuben Rogers on
bass and Gerald Cleaver on drums explored every nuance and
possibility.
They crept in over Rogers’ steady,
walking line and accumulated an unstoppable momentum to open the set. A
scattering of rhapsodic chords from the piano ushered in a typical wispy,
plaintive melody from the trumpet. There was a palpable thickening of the
atmosphere as the silence between notes was allowed to swell. Virelles allowed
the faintest of repeated notes to chime and the trumpet sighed. Then Cleaver
started an urgent shuffling groove, Rogers’ bass locked in, Stanko assayed a
few sliding dance steps before spooling out another Stank-ish ditty and
standing back having lit the touchpaper.
Virelles produced the first
of several volcanic solos. Crystalline phrases were repeated, repeated again,
turned upside down with percussive counterpoint from his left hand before a pummelling
battery of rhythms doubled with an eruption from Cleaver who’d been shadowing
every move. Even Reuben Rogers was whooping from behind the bass. Stanko’s
contributions were invariably brief, as much a conductor and on the spot orchestrator
as frontman, his fragile sound sketching out the territory whether with squalls
of notes or filigrees of melody. Cleaver was an immense presence whether
filling the canvas with skittering shimmers of texture from the cymbals or
building the tumult with boiling rhythms.
The American trio has brought an
extra dimension to Stanko’s music, this set was drawn from the most recent
release December Avenue and the roars for more recognised
we’d witnessed something special.
Partikel played a
short opening set offering a brief gust of a distinctive blend of striking
melody, artfully shifting harmony and infectious grooves with often surprising
turns. Guitarist Ant Law joined the regular trio of Duncan
Eagles (sax); Max
Luthert (bass) and Eric Ford (drums).
Their well-received set will have
whetted plenty of appetites.
Mike.
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