Phil Bancroft’s pace of life may have slowed somewhat since he swapped his Edinburgh base for rural East Lothian, but his creative fires remain very much undimmed. Launching the Myriad Streams platform in May 2023, he offered subscribers a curated tour of music spanning his 30+ years of performance. Birth And Death is simultaneously released with 2004’s Headlong, whichfeatured a young Thomas Strønen, and each month promises something new.
Recorded at two sessions in 2018, this set sees the saxophonist joining forces with tabla master Gyan Singh, a member of twin brother Tom Bancroft’s band In Common. The two-part improvisation On First Meeting was captured at Bancroft’s Glenkinchie home, while the remaining pieces, all Bancroft compositions, are from a December session in Singh’s hometown of Delhi. Fusing elements of jazz, Celtic and Indian classical musics into a single cogent voice it occasionally echoes the pioneering crossovers of Alice Coltrane and Jan Garbarek but the duo for the most part follow their own inviting path.
On First Meeting is a masterclass in instant composition, relaxed and conversational, and it’s wonderful to hear flashes of Bancroft’s extrovert side. The composed pieces are generally more linear, built around particular scalar patterns and melodies, and as the pair switch between instruments there’s tonal and textural variety aplenty. The 11-minute opener settles into a meditative mode as Bancroft’s majestic soprano soars over Singh’s ever-shifting percussive tides, the drone-based In Darkness and playful Anita And Al’s Wedding, where Bancroft switches to whistle, are equally striking, while Bancroft’s earthy soprano on the closing Bird is laced with expressive inflections.
A further set by an expanded trio with guitarist Graeme Stephen is slated for release in the autumn, and if it’s half as enjoyable as Birth And Death I can’t wait.
Discography
Birth And Death; On First Meeting Pt. I; In Darkness; Anita And Al’s Wedding; On First Meeting Pt. II; Bird (57.36)
Bancroft (ss, ts, whistle); Gyan Singh (tabla, pc). Glenkinchie and Delhi, July and December 2018.
Myriad Streams MYRIAD 003
