Laura
Jurd (trumpet); Ultan O’Brien (violin, viola); Martin Green (accordion); Ruth
Goller (electric bass); Corrie Dick (drums)
Long been one of jazz’s
busiest talents (her own website does her an injustice by listing only the
albums she has led on, rather than listing all the projects with which she has
been involved), Jurd sees this album released in the same month as the new
Fergus McCreadie album, The Shieling, which
she also produced (more on The Shieling HERE).
Back in 1959 Whitney Balliett coined the description of jazz as ‘The Sound of Surprise’ and it’s a joy to hear a new album that still surprises to this extent. It burns, it rampages, there’s fury and melodicism in there and an adventurous lack of restraint, but most of all it sounds like an escape into another place. Much has been said of the folk roots of this album but those shades are not as extensive as other critics might suggest and, at the end of the day, it’s another example of jazz reaching out and pulling under its umbrella music from a source rooted other than in America. Of course, folk has made its way into jazz before, all the way from Pentangle, back in the sixties, up to local star Faye MacCalman’s recent excursions with the Unthanks and Richard Dawson.
It opens with Offering, a grandstanding, furious
rolling boil, with every member of the cast fully committed and in full voice. Step Up to The Altar is where those folk
roots start to shine through but they are part of a whole with the three lead instruments
perfectly and rigorously blended over a driving rhythm as subtle as a
collapsing wall. For the avoidance of doubt, someone round here means business,
and it’s probably Ruth Goller, whose bass sound is an immense presence
throughout. During Praying Mantis Goller
is the mountainous anchor around which the others plunder the available space;
Dick clatters round his kit and Jurd has the freedom to peel off a succession
of rising floating phrases. After all that gravitas Lighter & Brighter takes a full deep dive into the folk world,
it’s a proper old fashioned jig with accordion and violin to the fore. It is
indeed lighter and brighter, as if to lull us into a sense of relief before the
big boots are strapped back on for Life which
is full of fury, fragments and shards over its nearly two minutes. We swing
back to folk for You Again, which
combines a rolling blues and plenty of trad.arr elements with Jurd’s piercing
trumpet taking the spotlight for a solo that swirls and rides over the repeated
folk phrases and the extra space when the band drops out behind her. Towards
the end the accordion and violin dance around the trumpet bringing joy to the
proceedings before Jurd and the other leads duel with Dick’s drums in a series
of thunderous exchanges.
You might have thought
that St James’ Infirmary would
provide a comfort blanket for those in the jazz world but you haven’t heard it
like this before. The piece is built up off a drone over which Jurd carries the
melody and her own solo line with Dick full of fury, exploding in the back
ground. It’s overwhelming and quite magnificent. By comparison Bide Your Time is restrained with Jurd
leading us elegantly into it before another storm, which quickly ebbs away, is
unleashed, and her winding solo, closely shadowed by violin and accordion takes
us through to another eruption through which her trumpet rings out strongly. What Are You Running Towards is a slab
of folk infused jazz-funk (or is it funk infused jazz-folk? I don’t know; it’s
all in the mix), with Goller’s bass again proving the anchor as violin and
accordion franticly swirl around Jurd’s trumpet as she attempts to punch holes
in the ceiling, edging into distortion at times. The big boots are back, albeit
briefly, for the closer, Back To Life, which
starts with a cough, progresses into wide screen fury and slowly comes apart to
leave the listener smiling, but breathless, in the face of the preceding 40
minutes.
I’m putting this onto the
top ten of the year pile; it really is that good.
Laura Jurd and this band will be at the Cumberland Arms in Newcastle on11th November and, if I can find the ticket on my phone I’ll be there. Tickets available HERE. Dave Sayer
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