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Reviewed: Art Themen Organ Trio | Ant Law & Brigitte Beraha | Louis Stewart & Jim Hall | Greg Amirault Trio

Art Themen Organ Trio: Live In Soho (Ubuntu UBU0167)

In November 2024 the seemingly indefatigable saxophonist Art Themen celebrates his 85th birthday and this record marks that milestone. Themen has been a ubiquitous figure on the British jazz scene for over half a century. He’s recorded with the likes of Jack Bruce, Michael Garrick and most notably with the late Stan Tracey where amongst other albums he was famously heard on the live quartet album Captain Adventure (Steam, 1976), recorded in 1975 at the 100 Club.

His organ trio is now on to its third album and as usual Themen is supported by two first class players, Pete Whittaker on organ and piano and George Double on drums. These three play as a perfectly melded unit and whilst it’s a live Pizza Express Jazz Club set, apart from the occasional audience applause, it sounds like a studio recording.

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The set offers stylistic variety from the off, commencing with Pete Whittaker’s brash Hammond work on the opener Chili Peppers. Themen changes from tenor to soprano on the quirky Brahms…I Think and the slow, bluesy Country is delivered at a stately pace with Themen on lustrous tenor. The lively Groovy Samba has Themen back on lithe soprano. Loewe and Lerner’s ballad I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face affords a piano outing for Whittaker. Herbie Hancock’s And What If I Don’t is given a Jimmy Smith-esque makeover to foot-tapping effect. Themen’s solo reading of Ellington’s Sophisticated Lady is a masterclass in tenor technique imbued with all the control and emotion of a true virtuoso. Double’s crisp percussive interspersion on the closer, Horace Silver’s funky The Cape Verdean Blues, is a standout.

Ant Law & Brigitte Beraha: Ensconced (Ubuntu UBU0169)

This project had its origins in the pandemic and is a first collaboration between these two increasingly impressive musicians. Bookended by two non-originals, A Kiss To Build A Dream On and Some Other Time, the eight tracks presented here showcase the respective talents of guitarist Ant Law and vocalist Brigitte Beraha. On duo tracks Law mostly takes a delicate fingerpicking approach to the songs that perfectly complements Beraha’s limpid vocals. But three tunes – Harvest, Above Water and Who We Are – are augmented by guest musicians including pianist Kit Downes, saxophonist Duncan Eagles and drummer Jamie Murray. Above Water is a more complex but equally satisfying piece courtesy of Murray’s sparse echoey beat, Eagles’ searching saxophone and Max Luthert’s ethereal electronics. This album possesses hypnotic qualities matched with considerable depth and invites many repeated plays.

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Louis Stewart & Jim Hall: The Dublin Concert (Livia Records LRCD2402)

An hour-long, previously unreleased set by two doyens of jazz guitar is a welcome addition to the extensive back catalogue of Irishman Louis Stewart. Jim Hall, whose recorded works are even more numerous, has been described by Pat Metheny as “the father of modern jazz guitar”, which is no exaggeration. Just listen to Metheny – or Bill Frisell – and you can hear Hall’s unmistakable influence. Hall must surely be one of the greatest jazz guitarists of all time, and his collaborations with the likes of Bill Evans, Jimmy Giuffre, Ornette Coleman, Ella Fitzgerald and Ben Webster (to name but a few) speak for themselves as pivotal moments in jazz.

This gig was arranged by Gerald Davis, the founder of Ireland’s first jazz record label, Livia, set up primarily to encourage Stewart to record albums under his own name including his debut Out On His Own (Livia, 1977). Davis had heard from Stewart that Hall was holidaying in Dublin over Christmas so this was too good an opportunity to miss since the two guitarists had seemingly met each other the year before when Stewart had played his New York debut at Bechet’s, a jazz club on Third Avenue. Unquestionably Ireland’s premiere jazz guitarist, Stewart was also renowned on the international scene and had recorded with George Shearing, Benny Goodman, Tubby Hayes and Ronnie Scott amongst many others.

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Out of the eight standards on the album, Hall, as the guest star, is afforded three solo pieces, an iridescent All The Things You Are, a robust My Funny Valentine and a gorgeously ruminative In A Sentimental Mood. These present the listener with the opportunity to hear just how imaginative and skilful Hall is. But Stewart is no novice and his exquisite intro to But Beautiful is masterly. On Sonny Rollins’ classic St Thomas, following a conventional reading of the tune, the two guitarists deconstruct the piece as a funky reverie with Stewart providing intermittent percussive backing on his guitar.

This recording is a meeting of two masters and usefully provides an opportunity to examine their respective techniques in a rare, almost forensic setting with the listener carefully determining who is playing what and when. Fortuitously captured on two microphones, this recording, which took place on Boxing Day 1982, is of historic and artistic importance and a must-have for fans of modern jazz guitar.

Greg Amirault Trio: A Change Of Pace (gregamirault.org)

Hailing from Nova Scotia but now resident in Montreal, guitarist Greg Amirault teaches jazz guitar at Schulich School Of Music, McGill University. In 2000 Amirault was a joint recipient of the Grand Prize Of Jazz at the Montreal International Jazz Festival with the Eduardo Pipman Quartet, with whom he recorded the album Aca Y Alla (Here & There) (Justin Time Records, 2001).

A Change Of Pace is Amirault’s fourth album under his own name. This guitar trio album comprises nine tracks of which three are non-originals (I Wish I Knew, If I Had You and Besame Mucho). The record offers 50-minutes’ worth of exemplary music, executed with great skill, even breathing new swinging life into old workhorses such as If I Had You, made famous by the likes of Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan. Besame Mucho is given an attractive makeover and the stately title track clearly demonstrates Amirault’s compositional talent. This is an album worth tracking down, available via Bandcamp here: https://gregamirault.bandcamp.com/album/a-change-of-pace.

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