Matthew Aplin (piano); Tom Riviere (double bass); Steve Hanley (drums) + Nel Begley (spoken word 1 track)
The band's influences according to the liner notes are Bartok, Anthony Braxton and Ornette Coleman. I detected various other styles including church organ music and Monk (Thelonious style rather than Trappist).
The tracks encompass both the fast and furious (Staircase
Stomp, Sock Eyed/Loose Lace) with the soft and melancholy (Brave to
Swim in this Weather, Dream of a Common Language) My own favourite
selection Watching the Arc of Bats begins with Tom Riviere’s slow
plucked bass building up the tension alongside Steve Hanley’s subtle drumming,
Matthew Aplin’s piano then blends in and the piece morphs into a sweet
reflective phase – gentle sparse and lovely my notes say. The album concludes with
A Mackerel’s Tale which was inspired by an immersive
theatre work by George Buchanan. The poem was written and is performed
alongside the trio by Nel Begley and is simply charming.
This a hardly a jazz piano trio in the
traditional format although throughout you do get snippets of this classic
style. Overall this is a fine album of contemporary improvised jazz drawing on
the past masters but spinning its own take to produce a relevant offering for
our times.
Steve H
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