A bit slow on the up-take here but I would have to own up to not really paying much attention to the British group Empiracal despite being impressed by what I had heard them performe of the radio. I nearly missed last night's gig at the Turner Sims had it not been for a tip off from a friend and when I arrived, it was announced that the saxophonist Nathaniel Facey had sustained a broken nose and finger ligamenet damage in a football match and his place was taken by pianist Robert Mitchell.
There has been a tendancy to overhype bands in the country and the media seems to love those jazz groups to seem to have a manifest shame in billing themselves as playing jazz. Pleasing indeed, therefore, to hear a band that took it's cues from the kind of mid-60's jazz performed by the likes of Herbie Hancock, Eric Dolphy, Sam Rivers, Bobby Hutcherson, etc who produced a body of work on Blue Note which pushed the boundaries of the music without fully embracing the New Thing. Stripped of gimmickry, I was pleased that Empiracal simply set about playing straight ahead jazz that followed the same ideals. Several things stood out for me. Shane Forbes is a really selfless drummer who played for the group and combined with bassist Tom Farmer to produce the kind of ideal cushion for soloists to play on top of. The principle soloist last night was Lewis Wright who sounded like he had totally absorbed the approach of Bobby Hutcherson's work on a slew on Blue Notes and, for my money, was an absolute revelation. I was hugely impressed by his contribtion. Given that all three of these musicians are in their 20's I would suggest that followers of the UK jazz scene can be extremely optimistic. This is jazz as it should be played - unfettered by compliance to modish trends.
Whilst the first set almost religiously adhered to a kind of 60's post-bop manifesto, the second set took on a more introverted and abstract feel almost akin to the free-ish jazz that a label like ECM could churn out in the mid 70's. In was in this element that guest pianist Robert Mitchell rose to the fore although a highlight of the gig was when he two-fistedly locked on to a machine-like groove that zoned into Cecil Taylor / Matthew Shipp territory. The overall impact was staggering. Mitchell is not a name that features often in the titans of British jazz piano but on the evidence of last night, I would suggest that he must be one of the most strikingly original pianists in the country.
In conclusion, with the exception of the guest, this is an amzingly young band and makes you wonder what they might be capable of in future. A definate "thumbs up."
There has been a tendancy to overhype bands in the country and the media seems to love those jazz groups to seem to have a manifest shame in billing themselves as playing jazz. Pleasing indeed, therefore, to hear a band that took it's cues from the kind of mid-60's jazz performed by the likes of Herbie Hancock, Eric Dolphy, Sam Rivers, Bobby Hutcherson, etc who produced a body of work on Blue Note which pushed the boundaries of the music without fully embracing the New Thing. Stripped of gimmickry, I was pleased that Empiracal simply set about playing straight ahead jazz that followed the same ideals. Several things stood out for me. Shane Forbes is a really selfless drummer who played for the group and combined with bassist Tom Farmer to produce the kind of ideal cushion for soloists to play on top of. The principle soloist last night was Lewis Wright who sounded like he had totally absorbed the approach of Bobby Hutcherson's work on a slew on Blue Notes and, for my money, was an absolute revelation. I was hugely impressed by his contribtion. Given that all three of these musicians are in their 20's I would suggest that followers of the UK jazz scene can be extremely optimistic. This is jazz as it should be played - unfettered by compliance to modish trends.
Whilst the first set almost religiously adhered to a kind of 60's post-bop manifesto, the second set took on a more introverted and abstract feel almost akin to the free-ish jazz that a label like ECM could churn out in the mid 70's. In was in this element that guest pianist Robert Mitchell rose to the fore although a highlight of the gig was when he two-fistedly locked on to a machine-like groove that zoned into Cecil Taylor / Matthew Shipp territory. The overall impact was staggering. Mitchell is not a name that features often in the titans of British jazz piano but on the evidence of last night, I would suggest that he must be one of the most strikingly original pianists in the country.
In conclusion, with the exception of the guest, this is an amzingly young band and makes you wonder what they might be capable of in future. A definate "thumbs up."
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