Particularly welcome in that it preserves material Peter and the guys have been featuring on their 1985 gigs, this album is a knockout from the start. The material is neatly divided: the first side might be called the ‘contemplative’ side of Peter’s personality and art, while Side 2 is ferociously extrovert. Like all master jazzmen, however, Peter always swings: the rhapsodic and penetrating exploration of Old Folks abounds with fierce lyricism and harmonic depth, but, make no mistake, it also simmers unambiguously. The same goes for John Horler’s composition 3/4 Peace, the most searching of the four tunes, where John takes an outstanding solo to add to those of Peter and Henry. Herbie Hancock’s Hurricane is suitably violent but never uncontrolled despite its high pitch of excitement. Not the kind of performance to have comfortably in the background, it repays in generous measure the attention it demands. The more accessible Gingerbread is a perfect ‘closer’, bubbling over with good humour but simultaneously full of enterprise and muscular enquiry.
It’s nothing new for Peter King to be just about the best alto player in the world, and this album will both delight his followers and increase their number. It’s also splendid to hear Lowther in top form: to my loss, I haven’t heard him on record for a while, and his work here simply reminds us that he has no superiors amongst European jazzmen and precious few anywhere. Dave and Spike are as flawless and masterly as you would expect, and you can mark this up as yet another unreserved triumph for British jazz. With bands like Peter’s, Ray Swinfield’s and NYJO around, I’d say that not a few of our American cousins ought to be feeling a bit nervous.
Discography
Old Folks; 3/4 Peace (23.59) – Eye Of The Hurricane; Gingerbread Boy (23.29)
Peter King (as); Henry Lowther (tp: absent on Old Folks); John Horler (p); Dave Green (b); Spike Weils (d). University College, Oxford, March 1984.
(Spotlite SPJ529)
