Album review: 4 in 1 - Monkin' Around Ubuntu Music)

Dave O'Higgins (tenor sax); Luke Fowler (bass); Billy Pod (drums) + Sean Fyfe (piano on tks 2,3,7,9,11); Martin Shaw (trumpet on tks 2,5,11, flugel on tk 9).

Described by O'Higgins as 'very old school with everyone in the same room, no headphones, just like we play on a gig'. As someone who's a bit old school himself I'll drink to that. What you see/hear is what you get. The great and the good are blaming processed foods for all that's wrong with our nutritional lifestyle and maybe they're right.

I guess this album would come under the heading of unprocessed music - it's certainly as tasty as anything served up in the Ubuntu kitchen and, over the years, they've served up many an epicurean jazz platter.

Apart from recording without a safety net there's also the challenge of recording Monk tunes (six without a piano) many, not all, of which will already be familiar to most prospective buyers. In fact this proves a blessing inasmuch as without the distraction of Monk's idiosyncratic piano the tunes stand on their own merit. Even the tracks with Fyfe on piano are excellent. His style, so far removed from that of Monk that to cross-reference them would be pointless. Fyfe is very much his own man.

Of course, the whole caboodle lives or dies with O'Higgins. Despite some great recordings by Monk with Rollins, Trane or Johnny Griffin only Charlie Rouse managed to get close to interpreting Monk's compositions. As such, the British tenor saxophonist finds his own direction and it works. On trumpet and flugel Martin Shaw adds variety whilst Fowler and Pod meet the demands placed upon them without faltering.

Well worth checking out, particularly as at least four of the tunes are rarely played and should be heard more often. Lance

 

Album release (CD and digital): October 4.

Well You Needn't; Two Timer; Evidence; Pannonica; San Francisco Holiday; Epistrophy; Four in One; Green Chimneys; Brake's Sake; Ba-Lue Bolivar Be-Lues-Are; Off Minor; I Mean You