Alex
Western King (tenor sax); James Copus (trumpet); Sam Leak (piano); Jonny
Wickham (bass); Jay Davis (drums).
This is an album of two
personalities. One is a bop balladeer from the ‘50s and the other is much more
modern and challenging giving a suggestion of where Western-King might go on
his next album.
The first two tracks exemplify this dichotomy; Make Way is relaxed with laid back piano and sax solos whilst Disorder Reordered does what it says on the tin. The latter has a disjointed, angular opening from bass and drums with Leak providing ‘Monk-ish’ interjections from somewhere behind them. The sax doesn’t come in until near the end as Western-King squalls over heavy riffing. This is lively stuff.
Dark
Space starts as more Sunday morning music, though it is
redeemed by a sax solo that builds towards plaintive wailings at the end that
draws the listener in. It’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Inner
Eye has
a lovely ‘Bill Evans-y’ piano solo which leads into a duet with the bass. At
the end of that passage I expected to hear polite night club applause and was
almost surprised it wasn’t there, the tune is that well-mannered.
The title track opens
like a hard bop reading of Well You Never
and is built off Wickham’s rolling and tumbling, stabbing drums. Whilst he only
solos, briefly, towards the end of the track his is the dominant force
throughout. Copus adds some energy and attack on trumpet and provides a foil
for Western-King, the two of them provide the highlights of the albums solos,
sounding like a modernised Blakey front line.
The closer, The Long Road could have come from the
soundtrack of a ‘50s noir thriller, especially one that featured a night-time
car chase through twisting, mountainous country roads or a chase through dark
alleys with the bad guy, the hero and a percussive pianist in hot pursuit of
each other. Western-King lets himself go on a disrupted, fractured solo,
surfing on the nose of a precarious rhythm section wave that feels like it
could all come tumbling down at any second if it weren’t for the listener
willing him on. Both Jay Davis on the drums Alex W-K, himself, are on top of
their game, revelling in the space left as the others drop out.
Listeners hearing this
album without having the sleeve notes to hand may suspect that it was recorded
on two separate occasions with two sets of backing musicians which is not the
case. So, there you have it; Alex Western-Kings ballad album and his
progressive jazz album on one disc. It’ll be interesting to see where he goes
next.
Mention should be made of
the cover which shows Western-King in various poses in a concrete underpass wearing
his dad’s old parka and looking as cheerful as a UK Eurovision entrant after all
the points have been awarded. Ubuntu haven’t really provided the best covers
for many of their albums but this one is poor, even by their standards.
Sideslip
is released on June 25 and will be available through the usual outlets.
Alex’s website can be
found HERE. Dave Sayer
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