You Must Believe in Spring: Jim Rattigan (French horn); Nick Costley White (guitar).
Thelonious Monk: Jim Rattigan (French horn); Hans Koller (piano)
In jazz the French horn is one of those instruments that has mainly featured in larger ensembles. Not cool enough for an octet but perfect for some atmospheric harmonies in the back row of an orchestra. In recent decades, the chances are that it was Jim Rattigan providing those harmonies. For these three albums he has put the horn front and centre, or at least standing alongside three top ranking players on the UK scene for three very different albums, one a mixture of covers and originals, one of standards and one of Monk tunes only.
Dialogues
is the first of
these and features 3 Rattigan compositions in its seven tracks. Opener, Reverie by Alexander Glazounov is what
it says on the tin, beautiful, flowing reverential and elegiac. Elegy, which follows is more challenging
as Rattigan uses less harmony and more drive, breaking lines with parps and
stutters, with Neame following his every move. Strayhorn’s Chelsea Bridge has Rattigan blowing long notes and dancing runs through
the fog. Ishaya is music to accompany Rattigan’s meditation sessions. It’s full
of big sky and ideas of light, elegantly supported by Neame.
Apparently, Neame
already had an arrangement of Wayne Shorter’s Infant Eyes to hand so our two protagonists run through that. It’s
chance for Neame to shine, and he takes it on a fragile questing solo before a
dramatic passage when Rattigan comes back in. Closer, Passing Point is the sole Neame composition on the album. It’s a
flowing, gentle ballad with Rattigan and Neame shadowing each other closely
through the themes.
Dialogues is,
probably, the standout album of the three.
Mr Rattigan’s
peregrinations next saw him pitch up at Fish Factory Studios for a standards
session with guitarist Nick Costley-White last October. This is an altogether
more relaxed session, though the guitar sounds a bit thin next to the full
bodied French horn. All the same, there are some standards here that you never
get tired of listening to. There’s a lovely version of My Funny Valentine which captures the characters as well as any
vocal performance. Richard Rogers gets a second tune straight after with I Could Write A Book. It’s a show tune
and it’s easy to imagine Kelly or Astaire dancing lightly to this one. There’s
a lovely unaccompanied guitar solo from Nick Costley-White as well. A mournful You Must Believe In Spring follows
before Rattigan waltzes us through a joyous How
My Heart Sings with rather subdued chordal support from the guitarist at
first before another delicate finely picked solo. Costley-White has a
larger role on Alone Together which
is played as a tight duet with the players working cheek by jowl together on
lines that seem to coil tightly round each other. Points too for the elegant
wistful run through of Lush Life which
under stays its welcome at only 3 ½ minutes.
Rattigan was back at
the same studios for the final album in the set, a tribute to Thelonious Monk
entitled, unimaginatively, Thelonious
Monk. We’re used to hearing Monk played by a piano trio, a big band or a
more standard jazz grouping so the French horn and piano are unusual voices for
the music. It up ends expectations. He and Koller seem to slide into Ruby, My Dear, Koller plays around with
the melody, adding the occasional decorative flourishes, and Rattigan plays
around him. It’s a lovely version. Similarly, on a melancholic 'Round Midnight Koller plays and
embellishes the melody against a warm comfort blanket of French horn. Ask Me Now is a sprightly dance and is
swiftly followed by an early fading Epistrophy,
the brevity of which hardly allows for much more than a quick run through
of the main melody. For all that the French horn is more associated with those
warm tones, and there are plenty to be heard here. On this album Rattigan plays
aggressively and abrasively at times, bringing a different voice to bear, in
keeping with Monk’s angular melodies. An interesting album.
Duos is available for pre-order now from Bandcamp HERE with a shipping date of around October 20. Dave Sayer
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