Lorraine Baker (drums); Binker Golding (tenor); Liam Noble (piano); Paul Michael (bass).
(Review by Lance).
Not another singer? Correct! This is not another singer, but a drummer. Why do I sound surprised? I shouldn't do as drummers of the fairer sex are no longer a rare species. Top draw drummers such as Abbie Finn, Caroline Scott, Sophie Alloway and Katie Patterson. make a mockery of any imaginary gender divides in jazz. Lester Young famously gave up playing drums, he said that as by the time he'd dismantled the kit all the available chicks had left with the saxophone players. If he'd been a girl it might have been different - "May I carry your bass drum Miss Young?"
Yes, Lorraine Baker is a drummer - and a very fine drummer is she. Delete the 'she' - 'she' brings to mind a cat. No, retain the 'she' because this person is a cat - a jazz cat of the very first order.
You doubt me? then just listen to her percussive intro to the first track. It could be anyone from Gene Krupa to Ed Blackwell to a from out of space percussionist. Lorraine Baker is all of these things but, most of all, she's Lorraine Baker.
And, if the album's artwork is indecipherable, the music makes up for it.
With Binker out front and blowing his sox off, Noble digging in behind him, Paul Michael handling the basslines and Ms. Baker à la batterie it's compulsive, driving stuff. Think Coleman/Cherry, add accessibility, and you've got it.
The album comes out on October 12 but, if you can wait awhile, Jazz North East is bringing the whole shebang to Newcastle on Sunday, November 11 at the Bridge Hotel.
Lance.
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