Sunday night @ the Globe: Rod Oughton’s Tomorrow’s New Quartet with Ben van Gelder - Feb. 9

© Ken Drew

Ben van Gelder (alto sax); Deschanel Gordon (piano); Flo Moore (bass guitar); Rod Oughton (drums/voice)

Another winner from the JNE/Jazz Coop joint promotion squad at the Globe.

The músic by Rod Oughton's Tomorrow's New Quartet may be contemporary but it is well within the boundaries of accessibility for all but the mouldiest of figs and even that (hopefully) dying breed can't have failed to respond to Oughton's interaction with the audience. Apart from being a fine drummer and composer he's a card, as witnessed by his inter-round summaries.

The opening Outro (Intro?), a meandering piece that had the feeling of band and audience  psyching each other out - like the mating ritual of two unneutered cats.

© Ken Drew

Recurrence, I think was, loosely speaking, a jazz tango. Close your eyes and you could imagine Jack Lemmon in drag, a flower between his lips, dancing with Joe E. Brown. The solos were beginning to pep up with Oughton making some vocalese noises.  

Next up, after a lengthy name-checking of his fellow musicians, a Brazilian number, the title of which escaped me but one on which all impressed. Guest alto saxophonist, Ben van Gelder - late of Amsterdam and NYC - flew like a bird, Gordon displayed the talents that had won him the BBC's Young Jazz Musician of the Year award back in 2020 whilst Flo Moore, who'd been relatively subdued up to now, let fly on five string bass guitar drawing the biggest round of applause so far.

The set closed with an uptempo 'swinger' that left band and boozers in need of refreshment. Nods of approval all-round from the jazz cognoscenti.

Refreshed, performers and punters settled down for the second set which began with Wintering, inspired by a book by Katherine May, related to the seasons. Gentle and quite emotive.       

All Together Now was that and more. The title track of their recent album, it had sizzling solos from piano and alto with some meaty exchanges between Flo and Rod who also added some of his inimitable vocalese to the mix.

The title of the next composition was an anagram of Milton Nascimento* - don't ask me! The person who unravelled the letters won a CD - well done Chris.

It also involved some mysterious goings on with Oughton waving a tambourine in front of an audio/video camera. It was a killer number with van Gelder going for gold with a blistering solo. More instrument/voice unison lines. This gig was just getting better and better!

Three High kept the level up there whilst the only non-Oughton composition, Abdullah Ibrahim's Water From an Ancient Well, was pure magic with van Gelder's unaccompanied intro a solo of rare beauty.

Tell Them based around a Palestinian poem had the leader exercising his voice effectively and Flo Moore had her biggest moment of the night according to the 'clapometer'.

There had been several different rhythms over the two sets and the evening finished with Okay Baion which did indeed turn out to be a baion.

They went out on a high and I was pleased no culture vultures were screaming 'More!' We just knew nothing could top this.

Great gig by a great band - come back soon. Lance

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