Dave
Ingham (saxes, bells, flute); Stephen Mynott (guitar); Vilem Hais (double bass);
Azzy King (drums, percussion)
Dave Ingham, a musician/bandleader based in
East Anglia, formed The Dave Ingham Group in 2010 and this studio album, recorded
in Beccles, celebrates their tenth anniversary.
All compositions are by Dave Ingham.
With a playing time of just over 30 minutes the album is
relatively compact, but as we know at Bebop Spoken Here, small is
beautiful! Upstream commences
with drum, bass then guitar setting the rhythm and finally Ingham’s flowing
soprano weaving a fluid melodic line over the top. The rhythm section are let out to play for a
short interlude in the middle. Straw Dogs
commences with a slow menacing rhythm from drums, bass and guitar. Ingham, again on soprano, soars over the top
with extended arpeggiation. There is a
fine solo from Hais on bass at the centre.
Bass and guitar lead into the title track, A
Sea of Green, with resonant cymbal work from King. The rhythm puts one in mind of the slow ebb
and flow of waves on a pebbled beach.
Ingham plays both tenor and soprano, with some double tracking. An extended guitar solo from Mynott allows
him to demonstrate his technique to the full.
At over nine minutes this is the longest track on the album and pivotal.
Hometown Blues features Mynott’s guitar from the beginning. Ingham joins on tenor well into the
piece. A guitar feature follows, with an
air of call and response with the horn.
The final track, Race to the Sun ups the tempo again, Ingham’s
tenor over a driving rhythm. Here
drummer, Azzy King gets to show off on his own – well for a short period, at
least! We also get to hear Ingham on flute (with electronic effects) and added
experimentation from Mynott on guitar.
The track fades to a close. You
think it’s all over, it is now!
All in all, this is a neat little package,
with something for everyone. The press
release suggests there are elements of “classic cool 50s and 60s jazz melded
with world and African jazz”. Very
subtle hints of the latter two possibly, with a decent dose of cool I’d say.
A Sea of Green is released as a CD on July 3. Demonstration tracks may be sampled and the
CD can be ordered from Dave Ingham’s website. There is also a link on the site to a
download of the album from CD Baby, but the link leads to an information page
with the following message: “CD Baby
retired our music store in March of 2020 in order to place our focus entirely
on the tools and services that are most meaningful to musicians today and
tomorrow”.by
Hugh C
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