The Vortex Jazz Club, 11 Gillett Square, London N16 8JH | Bookings 020 7254 4097 | Enquiries 020 7993 3643 | Email Info at Vortex

June 2008
gig reviews

Round Trip
Jason Yarde - Trio WAH!
In Cahoots Sextet
Finn Peters Finntet
Barcode Trio /
Leo Altarelli
Bobby Wellins/Kate Williams

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June 2008 gig reviews by Chris Parker

In Cahoots Sextet

Tuesday 10 June

The presence in the Vortex of more ponytails than are seen at the average gymkhana is an infallible sign that Phil Miller's In Cahoots are in the offing, but their music is a great deal more than nostalgia-inducing jazz-rock for fiftysomethings.

Miller's music has stayed alive and vital because it possesses timeless qualities ­ punch, drive, considerable subtlety and an ineffably uplifting quality ­ and, in no small measure, courtesy of his skill in attracting soloists, particularly saxophonists (the late Elton Dean, to mention just one), who bring a wealth of experience from all areas of the music to interpreting his compositions.

On this occasion, Simon Picard assumed this role, and ­ like Dean, and this gig's front-line partner, trombonist Gail Brand ­ he is an accomplished performer in freer forms of jazz, so brings a rich and varied musical vocabulary and vivid improvisational imagination to the stand.

Even in the tricksiest of fusion-type themes, propelled by the powerhouse drumming of Mark Fletcher and the hypnotically steady bass of Fred Thelonious Baker ­ not to mention the felicitous keyboard touches of the master of this sort of music, Pete Lemer ­ Picard is able to insert pleasantly blustering solos, replete with fruity honks and grandstanding climaxes, but none the less imbued with musicianly skill honed by years of experience.

Brand, too, shone in her solo spots, for much the same reason ­ whether she's playing free or with, say, Billy Jenkins, she has a gift for selecting precisely the right mood in which to interpret a theme, and her textural variety is exemplary.

Given that such cogent solos from the horns were interspersed with Miller's own trademark spiky, affecting guitar contributions, and absorbing excursions from Lemer, Baker and Fletcher as appropriate, this was a throroughly entertaining evening's music.

 

 

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