Johnny Hunter was the
drummer on three of my favourite albums of last year (John Pope’s Citrinitas, From Wolves To Water by Beck
Hunters and the Moore, Pope, Hunter
album Something Happened) so A Consequence…. was one to look forward
to in our house. Unlike the other three albums, Hunter has written all the
music for this one. It’s been out since October last year but was languishing
in the vaults for over four years since its recording in January 2019 and we’ve
all passed a lot of water under various bridges since then.
The first impression is
of space and separation as the band run the gamut from fractured free jazz to
solid powerhouse post-bop. Hunter himself ranges from delicate fills and brush
strokes to playing with all the restraint of an East Berliner with a
sledgehammer in 1989. Laura Cole, pianist on the Beck Hunters album, has
contributed a short suite of 5 poems to accompany the music. Her first evokes
an open moor, unsheltered from the wind, scattered boulders under stormy skies
and the opening of Emergence recreates
that image in sound before the bleakness recedes to be replaced by a rolling
funk behind cautious blues frontline of sax and trumpet playing in unison. Any
comfort in that is dispelled by a probing breakdown before South’s emerging
trumpet lifts us out of the uncertainty over a forceful, pushing rhythm section.
Hanslip’s tenor solo in the same tune is an unfolding lyrical delight; bass and
drums become more insistent moving from the back of the room to equal
prominence as the solo progresses.
Consequence
I is
an update of the classic Blue Note sound with solid soloing over a high
stepping beat that begs to be sampled. This is music for those who need their
jazz to swing. Just as we’re grooving along nicely, it all breaks down into a
series of challenging, probing flurries of notes, hard scrapple bass soloing, the
front line alternately wailing and honking and rolling fury from Hunter
himself.
Consequence
II is
a conversation between drums, trumpet and bass with the tenor joining in
towards the end. Gamelan-like cymbals, darting trumpet and heavy landing single
bass notes. By way of contrast, Consequence
III is another swinger with a bold, brassy opening before a tenor solo, the
sound bringing forth memories of albums such as Joe Henderson’s The State Of The Tenor or Sonny Rollins’
A Night At The Village Vanguard with
Hanslip digging in and bassist and drummer driving energetically from the back
line. Hanslip passes the baton onto Smith for a swooping punchy solo, but the
energy levels don’t drop and Hunter takes us onwards with a solo of his own
before more Blue Note swing to the dismount.
Epilogue
opens
as a fractured modern ballad, elegant and balletic. Hunter rolls his brushes
around the kit and Bennett provides the pulse at the heart of the tune. The
central section is a lament, as if we have journeyed (such a devalued word
these days) through this cycle of tunes but still find ourselves alone at the
end of it. However, having brought us low the album actually closes on a
rising, optimistic note as if a faint light of hope has emerged.
This is a bold imaginative
album with exemplary playing and production that deserves to sell better than,
I suspect, it will do. I would like to hear it live before what, I expect,
would be an entirely enthralled audience.
A
Consequence in Three Parts is available from many of the usual
outlets, including Bandcamp
and Amazon
(only 8 copies left, folks). Dave Sayer
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