I don’t know why it was this album that set me off waxing philosophically on the nature of the jazz combo and its longevity. The basic bass/drums/keys rhythm section plus frontline looks to have been with us since the big band leaders sat down with their accountants and realised that the personnel budget needed a dose of austerity. That this template has been with us for over 70 years means that any musician who wishes to use it must do so in a way that keeps it fresh; that there’s bite in the old dog still.
So how do you do that? In Matt Ridley’s case you do it with
strong compositions and arrangements, a slightly unorthodox line up (guitar
instead of a horn) and lots of energy and commitment. The writing includes
elements of classical and prog-rock influences, some of the tunes are through
compositions whilst others allow more space for improvisation. The second half
of the album is a suite that includes a balled, Adagio For The Fallen Stars in memory of the musicians that lost
their lives to covid in the last year.
The inclusion of Ant Law on guitar rather than a bit of
brass is justified entirely by those moments when his voice rises out of the
group mix and takes the tune up several energy levels. This is heard to best
effect on Ebb And Flow, which starts
with a flurry on the piano, bowed bass and lyrical saxophone and then, at about
the five minute mark Law lifts off with a solo that builds to sharp stabbing,
long notes, supported by Marc Michel who hits everything at least twice and at
great volume. At other times he performs
delicate runs that sit in front of the bass and drums, there but hard to
discern, but an obvious part of the whole. The presence of the guitar also
allows the band to move seamlessly between jazz and rock.
Yardeville,
which
follows is a tribute to Jason Yarde and John Turville. It opens with a
bass/drums/piano trio over which Hitchcock, then, floats an elegant romantic
solo on tenor.
In his interview in the current edition of Jazzwise Ridley
describes the cover of Wayne Shorter’s Infant
Eyes as “a bit of a breather in the middle of the album.” It closes the
opening half of the album and leads into the Suite, for which there is no
overall title.
Part I of the Suite, Gautamo,
starts off all energy and then breaks down into a Tom Hewson piano solo
with the bass digging in behind him. Hitchcock’s solo that follows is borne
upon a wave of furious drumming.
Part III is the Adagio.
A quick search gives us Ellis Marsalis, Bucky Pizzarelli, Wayne Rooney, Manu
Dibango, Tony Allen and Ron Matthewson, amongst many others who died of covid
and other causes last year and this is their ballad to the fallen. It’s mainly
a showcase for Hitchcock; elegant sax lines build into something angrier, but
some pastoral moments are in there as well.
The closer, Finale, is
Part IV of the suite and all the band get an opportunity to solo in front of
Michel’s drums. He seems to follow the ‘We never solo, but we always solo’
philosophy from Weather Report,’ and he provides solid support to everyone
else’s efforts, exploiting the space that the production on this album allows
him. The band come back together for a quick blow before the curtain falls.
If you’re troubled by trying to work out how you keep an
old format like the jazz quintet fresh, listen to Matt Ridley, it seems he has
the antidote.
There is more information about Matt Ridley and this album HERE
on the Ubuntu website and on his own website which is HERE
The Antidote is released on July 23 through
all the usual outlets, including Bandcamp.
Dave Sayer
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