Neil Cowley Trio: Built On Bach
It is a truth universally acknowledged (well, quite widely recognised anyway) that there are connections (well, similarities anyway) between jazz and the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. JSB was famed as a formidable improviser and was no stranger to cutting contests. Famously, when he travelled to Dresden to take part in a musical duel with the celebrated harpsichordist Louis Marchand, he arrived to find that Marchand had chickened out and fled by the first stagecoach out of town.
The French jazz pianist Jacques Loussier famously made a career of improvising on Bach compositions, to the disapproval of snobs on both sides of the jazz/classical border. Admiration for Bach is often clear in Nina Simone’s piano playing. It also crops up in the work of John Lewis and often informed the interplay of Dave Brubeck and Paul Desmond.
On this Neil Cowley trio album there are passages where, almost inevitably, you might be reminded of Loussier, but only at a fleeting hearing. For one thing, Loussier mainly based his improvisations directly on Bach’s compositions, whereas Cowley presents his own compositions based on Bach’s and then improvises on them. (I think the give-away is that, to the best of my knowledge, JSB never wrote anything called Emma’s Video Shop – which, by the way, was also issued as a single in March.)
A lot of fun can be had from spotting and identifying the fragments of pure Bach that surface here and there, but the main pleasure is the sheer elegance and invention of Cowley’s playing and the fine support from Horan and Jenkins. If you can, check out Emma’s Video Shop and the gorgeous closing track, White Elephant, and you’ll probably be hooked. I think the old boy would have liked it although, notoriously cantankerous, he might have argued about royalties.
Discography
Sales Technique; Chatterbox; John Wayne; Thomas; Scurry; Emma’s Video Shop; Incorrect Number; Periwiggle; Clever Clogs; White Elephant (34.32)
Cowley (p); Rex Horan (b); Evan Jenkins (d). UK, unknown date and venue.
Hide Inside Records HIDELP007 (LP) & HIDECD007 (CD)
Adam Rose + Mountain Jazz Quartet: Holler Serenade
Apart from Ornette Coleman’s Turnaround and the venerable Bye Bye Blackbird by Ray Henderson, all the compositions here are by Rose. They have a light-footed panache which is immediately captivating. Hayward Commons switches to a funky approach, with Rose making subtle use of a wah-wah effect in a nod to the music scene in Asheville, where the album was recorded. Few “mainstream” artists have covered Ornette Coleman’s tunes, a notable exception being the MJQ’s 1962 recording of Lonely Woman. This quartet gives The Turnaround a joyful outing and makes it sound as if it was written for them. At the time of the recording the quartet had only recently been formed, but they clearly gelled well and completed the album in one day.
I’d be hard put to date this album if I heard it without knowing when it was made. I might guess anytime in the last few decades but that is certainly not intended as a dismissal. Stylishness and quality are timeless, and this album has both in plentiful supply. The playing has an effortless-sounding classic character and holds the attention thoroughly. By the way, in case you think I’ve missed someone out of the discography, it’s not really Rose plus the quartet as it says on the tin – there are four of them including Rose.
Discography
Sailing On The Potomac; Bye Bye Blackbird; Fog Valley Sunrise; Hayward Commons; Double Entendre; Little Ms. Understanding; Theresa’s Journey; The Turnaround (50.18)
Rose (g); Taylor Pearson (kyb); Steve LaSpina (b); Jeff Sipe (d). The Eagle Room, Ashville, North Carolina, unknown date.
Independent
