Alban
Claret (guitar); Duncan Eagles (tenor sax); Chris Hyde-Harrison
(bass/compositions); Matt Parkinson (drums)
Estraven are a new group
formed to play the compositions of bassist Chris Hyde-Harrison and they include
Duncan Eagles, probably best known as a member of Partikel who have released a
couple of good albums on the Whirlwind label.
Hyde-Harrison has, apparently, studied and been influenced by ‘Maqams’, which is not a misspelling of the term for a native of Sunderland, but is, instead, the system of melodic modes used in traditional Arabic music. I was instantly reminded of Blue Maqams, an album by Anouar Braham on ECM where his oud playing is supported by a stellar rhythm section of Dave Holland, Jack DeJohnette and Django Bates.
Turning now to Ignored Advice which struck me on first
hearing as small but perfectly formed. It is a relatively short album by
today’s standards at around 33 minutes and change. As a result several of the
tracks sound like sketches for something longer though there is a coherence and
consistency across the whole album. In fairness, the brevity may be a function
of recording the whole album on one day in September last year. This is modern
group jazz rather than a leader plus sidemen with space for solos from all and
it’s hard to pick a standout performance.
There is an impressive
wall of sound when the full group is playing together; backing the soloists,
Parkinson, especially, provides elegant, spare fills just this side of the
listening horizon, so much so that on Letters
From the Frontline he isn’t so much supporting the solos but playing duets
with the other band members in turn.
The album opens with Invocation Incantation, an impatient,
full band gallop with Eagles’ twisted, spiralling sax over rattling drums and
chiming guitars. When the sax drops out, Claret fills the hollow left with a
long, Metheny-esque run, it’s an interesting awareness and use of space
Letters
from the Front Line features a long bass solo supported by
delicate guitar and drums. A Voice
Beneath is as mournful as the title suggests.
Safe
Hex was
released as a single that, I suspect, did not trouble the compilers of the top
forty. You can hear why this was chosen as the calling card, though, as the
band run through a series of solos with the solid bass of CH-H anchoring the
efforts of the others. Indeed, it is a further example of solid bass playing
allowing Parkinson the freedom to roam.
Going back to the earlier
discussion about maqams, Pariah’s Return,
does have elements of the orient about it, opening with Eagles’ sax sounding
like a call to prayer before the tune breaks into fragments of fragile guitar and
a long, exploratory line on the sax over bass and mallet work from Parkinson.
Last
Mahou Shoujo (a title guaranteed to banjax any
spellchequer) opens as an elegant pastoral waltz led by Claret who hands the
baton onto Eagles’ sax. As the rhythm section builds behind the two leads it
sounds a hopeful and redemptive closer.
It’s been difficult to
find out much more about the band as Chris Hyde-Harrison’s website seems to
have fallen off the internet. The band did play a short tour in January and
February this year but didn’t come far enough north for local readers.
Hopefully, a festival or a longer tour will see them up this way and we can
hear what these tunes are like when given the breath and the space to grow.
There’s a video of
Estraven playing Safe Hex on the
Jazzwise website here
and the album is available from March 4 through Bandcamp on this page.
Dave Sayer
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