Having witnessed Zoe Rahman’s solo performance of Hull Suite for World Piano Day in 2024, commissioned by Hull Jazz Festival, this album has fulfilled a long-held wish that the music would be committed to disc.
Here, the six-part composition is the centrepiece of a live performance at London’s Vortex Jazz Club where she’s joined by Gene Calderazzo on drums and Alec Dankworth double bass. It’s both joyous and thought-provoking; in short, a spellbinding performance.
The suite is based on themes of voyage, migration and family, taking inspiration from two statues in Hull: One which commemorates the 2.2 million people who passed through the port city between 1836 and 1914 on. Their way to a new life in America, and the other which looks out across the Humber to the sea and has a twin sculpture looking back towards it from Iceland, commemorating fishermen, seafarers and trade shared between the two countries.
The six parts are played seamlessly, bookended by three additional pieces that embrace both the commissioning brief she was given for Hull Suite but also her own and her family’s personal stories: Her mother’s six-week voyage from England to New Zealand, her father’s journey from Bengal to Australia, and the poignant sacrifice of selling a piano so the couple could build a life together become the emotional currents beneath this richly evocative music.
Zoe is an incredible pianist, whose stature belies the explosive power that emanates from her keyboard. She is quite simply one of the most exciting artists on the UK jazz scene today and I have to say this trio recording and the empathy they show takes the music to a whole new level.
One of the releases of the year so far and it’s wonderful that this musical journey goes full circle when Zoe brings her trio to play the Hull Suite live as part of this November’s Hull Jazz Festival.
Synergy: The album’s opening track, aptly named as the three musicians show electrifying togetherness, with Zoe wielding a bluesy punch.
Across the Humber: The suite’s short (1:05) opening scene-setter, played solo, that has a contemplative gentleness that soothes and clears the mind - an amuse bouche for the musical feast to come.
Out To Sea: We’re really underway now, calmer waters and a chance for Calderazzo and Dankworth to make their presence felt - subtle at first - but it’s Rahman steering the ship as we get our first hint of the power to come.
Piano Story: There’s no holding back now, this is a veritable tour de force from all concerned; the drums urging everyone on as the intensity builds and builds. My favourite piece of the whole album.
Voyage: Cinematic in its approach and another highlight of the album; the music washes over you in waves - and a great solo from Alec Dankworth.
Waves: The journey continues with this expressive solo piano piece.
East Coast: We’re at journey’s end - back home? Or just a step on a much larger journey? There’s a particularly bluesy feel here - this lady likes to boogie!
Fresh Start: Having taken a breath and applause at the end of a truly impressive performance - Zoe says she was given very little time to deliver the commission but boy, she delivers! And Fresh Start is the perfect encore, an uplifting piece giving us hope of better things being possible whatever the challenges life throws at us.
Red Squirrel: This was originally part of her 2015 solo piano album Dreamland but played here by the trio - Zoe at her dazzling best as she hops, skips and jumps across her keyboard.
Hull Suite Live is launched at the Vortex Jazz Club in London on July 10. The Zoe Rahman Trio open Hull Jazz Festival on Friday November 13. Roy Woodcock
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