Chris Hodgkins & Leanore Raphael: Pennies From Heaven
Trumpeter Chris Hodgkins is a familiar figure on the UK jazz scene, his style based on Chicago Dixieland and Braff-influenced mainstream swing. In this duo recording he is accompanied by the veteran American pianist Leonore Raphael, herself a similarly experienced artist. Their first album together was recorded live at the Pizza Express in 2017. This recent album salutes the golden age of classic American songwriting, with some very familiar standards. Hastily arranged and fitted in between engagements, it’s an off-the-cuff session featuring simple head-arrangements and endings, with some dialogue exchanges but little integrated interplay. Three of the 11 tracks are piano solos, and playing time at 33.18 is very short for a jazz CD.
There are no slow soul-searching blues or ballads in the duo tracks, which settle for a straightahead and enjoyably performed tribute to the famous songs. Chris’s light-toned trumpet is crisply assertive, with lively and varied rhythm patterns and impresses in There Is No Greater Love and Blue Room. I found Leonore’s solos tended to be rather over-busy and unsettled, lacking in resolute rhythmic propulsion. However, she sounds relaxed and contained in a fine solo in Sweet Lorraine, and contributes an interesting interpretation of Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me, the best of her solo tracks.
There’s nothing ground-breaking in this unpretentious album but it has some good moments, and makes enjoyable and agreeably entertaining listening. With more planning and session time, worthwhile additional substance and scope could have been added.
Discography
(1) Rosetta; Exactly Like You; (2) Prelude To A Kiss; (1) It’s Only A Paper Moon; There Is No Greater Love; Sweet Lorraine; (2) Lady Be Good; (1) Pennies From Heaven; (2) Do Nothing Till You Hear From Me; (1) Blue Room; Heartbeat Blues (33.18)
Hodgkins (t); Raphael (p); London, 1 November 2024. (2) Raphael (p). Place, date as (1).
Bell CD523
Brandon Seabrook: Hellbent Daydream
Active on the NYC avant-garde scene, guitarist and – surprisingly – banjoist Brandon Seabrook has augmented his regular trio for this new album, adding Elias Stemeseder on piano and synthesizers. He experiments with surreal concepts as conveyed in the track titles, all originals, and as the overblown and pretentious sleeve notes attempt to explain. He fuses into a strange mix a hybrid range of musical influences, absorbing elements of punk rock, jazz, metal and folk. Percussively picked clusters of notes swirl around in repeated patterns, often bleakly astringent over changing tempo and rhythm bases, and with varying ensemble support and sound effects from the synthesizers.
It’s interesting but tough and challenging listening, unlikely to appeal to jazz-minded listeners with more conventional tastes. However, the innovative updating of the banjo’s grass-roots associations in jazz and folk is intriguing, contributing an unusual tonal quality. A fast and extended tremolo makes a strong impression in Bespattered Bygones as does Seabrook’s restyled spin on blue-grass picking in The Arkansas Tattler, perhaps the most easily “approachable” track. Embracing the weird and experimental, this foray into a musical fantasy world boldly breaks new ground. Not everybody will enjoy treading there.
Discography
Name Dropping Is The Lowest Form Of Conversation; Bespattered Bygones; Hellbent Daydream; I’m A Nightmare And You Know It; Existential Banger Infinite Ceiling; Arkansa Tattler; Autopsied Cloudburst (43.27)
Seabrook (g, bjo); Henry Fraser (b); Erica Dicker (vn); Elias Stemeseder (p, syn). NYC, September 2024.
Pyroclastic Records PR45
