Making its appearance as part of the first batch of releases on Danny Thompson’s new improvised music label, In Our Time is one of those genteel records that slips easily by on first hearing, its hidden strengths revealed only at subsequent listens.
Speake is a reticent leader, his alto undemonstrative but melodically strong, yet he stamps his mark on each piece with quiet authority. Parricelli is a more immediate player, his chiming guitar lines and occasionally oddball delivery an ideal complement to Speake’s more straightahead approach. Both shine on Blackwell, the outstanding track on the album and an affecting tribute to the great drummer that manages to convey his superb sense of rhythm without resorting to percussive clichés. Watts and Arguelles are as one would expect of such a rhythm section – concise, efficient, and supportive – and together the quartet has produced an album of considerable variety that does the new label proud.
Discography
Understatement; Hidden Vision; Twisted Tungo; Sugarloaf; Benjamin; Blackwell; Trust; Spring Dance; Intention (49.40)
Martin Speake (as); John Parricelli (elg); Steve Watts (b); Steve Arguelles (d, pc). Recorded England, 1994.
(The Jazz Label TJL 005 CD)
