21 September 2009
Jazz BreakfastPeter Bacon
The Empirical of today might be smaller than before (away have gone trumpeter Jay Phelps and pianist Kit Downes; in has come vibes player Lewis Wright) but it continues to extend the jazz tradition, and perhaps now with even more focus. Certainly a very specific focus for this concert and the CD, Out ‘n' In, which comes out later this month.
The mysterious shadow spirit of Eric Dolphy flew about just under the roof of the tall CBSO space, as, beneath, Nathaniel Facey on alto saxophone, Wright on vibes, Tom Farmer on double bass and Shaney Forbes on drums played not only Hat & Beard and Gazzelloni, by the man himself, but also their own pieces - Out But In, So He Left, A Bitter End For A Tender Giant, Syndicalism, Dolphyus Morphyus - inspired by his music and by his brief life.
There were many choice moments in this excellent evening of challenging, absorbing and enriching music.
One special one came just before the interval in A Bitter End... (this piece reflects upon Dolphy's death, apparently after a misdiagnosis by German doctors - they assumed an Afr0-American jazz musician in the 1960s would be suffering from a drug overdose rather than a (possibly diabetes-linked) heart attack) and built in intensity until Facey seemed the sober, still, furious fulcrum around which Wright, Farmer and Forbes threw out a tumult of madness and mayhem.
Another was So He Left, referring to Dolphy's on-again, off-again place in the Mingus band, and possessing the buoyancy any Mingus reference brings out in the most atuned of players.
And then there was Dolphyus Morphyus, an extraordinary, fairly through-composed piece by Facey, which negotiated a variety of moods and time changes, and called on the greatest skills of what must be one of the most skilled bands in the country.
Facey blows hard on alto, giving what can sometimes be an overly strident instrument a great weight and power; Farmer is lyrical and accurate and fleet of finger; Wright is a really valuable find (from Norwich apparently!) who has an admirably warm sound on what can sometimes be a cold instrument; while Forbes is that wonderful thing - a grinning drummer, delighted to be responding to his band members, and then pushing them once more. Not only do they all clearly have the chops, they also clearly dig deep to try to understand the magical source of this music.
Richard Cook has written: "The kindest of men, who seemed to do so much in music just for the love of it, Dolphy is remembered with a sort of heartbroken affection by everyone who knew him". And by four young men who have listened hard to his music, too.