This cross-EU trio (Baas is Dutch, Burgwinkel, German) released an album last year which was reviewed in that London Jazz News blog by Tony Dudley-Evans, Programme Advisor of the Festival who carried out the introductions for this show at the Parabola Arts Centre, pointing out that the equipment on stage included a Hammond Organ with the full Leslie cabinet accessory. However, those who were hoping for a bit of organ boogaloo à la Jimmy Smith or James Taylor should have been advised to prepare for disappointment.
My scribbled
notes for this one record the impression that the music was at the point where
prog rock meets math-jazz in that it sounded like it had come less from human
emotion or interaction and more like it had been composed on a spreadsheet, a
pre-cursor, perhaps, to ChatGPT AI taking over music.
Much of it
consisted of short passages and sudden changes of tempo, crescendos and
collapsing buildings, as sudden switches disrupted any flow that might have
evolved. At times Baas’ guitar seemed to hold it all together with single note
runs and fractured solos, all shards and spikes. Burgwinkel contributed frantic
skittering and rattling drums.
I came away
impressed with the musicianship but having not found the music emotionally
engaging at all. Only occasionally did the musicians’ vigilance falter
sufficiently to let a melody escape, but, when it did, it was hunted down and
quickly stopped.
I was reminded of comments on Miles Davis by, I think, Ian Carr, about the way that his music included elements of tension and release, in that the music would become increasingly tightly wound and then there would be an emotional release to celebrate. Deadeye were more tension heaped on tension. Dave Sayer
*Only Downes
and Baas made it to the concert title in the programme, though Burgwinkel
appears to be a fully enrolled member of the ensemble.
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