Gig Review: Jazz Line-Up @ The Southbank Centre-London Jazz Festival 2011

Sharp Sound: experimental Jazz outfit, Empirical.

This year the London Jazz Festival reached its nineteenth anniversary.  Each autumn a vast array of the world’s most celebrated jazz-influenced musicians and vocalists gravitate towards the capital to play events across the city.  For those on a budget there are plenty of quality free gigs on offer too, one of which this year was BBC radio’s late afternoon live broadcast of its Jazz Line-Up programme with Kevin Le Gendre, in association with the Southbank Centre.

On Saturday 19 November Kevin was joined by pianist-turned-saxophonist Trish Clowes plus her band Tangent, and quartets Aquarium and Empirical.

Miss Clowes and band opened up the show with the busy, intellectually challenging ‘On/Off’ before moving on to the more alluring and gentle (read: accessible) ‘Seven’.  The song is an ideal showcase for Trish’s dexterity.  Chris Montague on guitar is Tangent’s other ‘star’.  There is great creative synergy between him and Clowes.

Apart from Montague, Tangent is comprised of Heidi Parsons on cello, Calum Gourlay on Double bass and James Maddren on drums.  It’s certainly different from the average Jazz outfit.  Clowes explained in a post-performance interview with Le Gendre that the quintet’s instrumentation reflects an orchestral intention in her arrangements.  She likes the sonic proximity to the human voice of both the cello and sax and believes they complement each other.  

On the contrary, if Saturday was anything to go by. Being so melodic the two instruments compete for the audience’s attention, even overriding each other.  The cello deserves to be centre stage, part of a more relaxed set-up; no more than a trio or quartet as demonstrated by the excellent Ayanna Witter-Johnson.  With Tangent it gets lost in the milieu.  The overall effect is a tad busy.

Piano led quartet Aquarium fare better with their sparser, more melodically engaging compositions.  They performed the globe-trotting themed ‘Strangers’, ‘Marrakech’ and ‘Milan’ for Saturday’s broadcast. Pianist/composer Sam Leak’s enviable skills are underpinned by a playfulness that manifests in the child-like enthusiasm with which he tinkers away.

The show closed with the very dapper-looking, experimental quartet Empirical who released their sophomore album ‘Elements of Truth’ last month.  The inclusion of the Vibraphone and hints of more contemporary genres such as Drum’n’Bass made theirs the most interesting soundscape of the lot.  The group have an energy (focused but at once laidback) and likeability that should take them far.

Trisha Clowes and Tangent:

Tenor Saxophone: Trisha Clowes

Guitar- Chris Montague

Cello- Heidi Parsons

Double Bass – Calum Gourlay

Drums- James Maddren

Aquarium:
Piano-Sam Leak
Double Bass-Sam Lasserson 
Saxophone-Sam Crockat
Drums-Joshua Blackmore

Empirical:

Alto Saxophone- Nathaniel Facey

Drums- Shaney Forbes

Vibraphone- Lewis Wright

Double Bass- Tom Farmer

Listen to Saturday's performances here (available until 28 November 2011).