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May 2010
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Gill Manly
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Vortex gig reviews by Chris Parker

Sojourner

Monday 19 July

'Soulful jazz for a new generation', played by 'a group ready to redefine the boundaries of any genre' was promised in Sojourner's programme note, and leader/pianist Jonathan Geyevu, like many of his young contemporaries, is certainly open-eared enough to incorporate a wide variety of rhythms and styles into his music.

Upside: he has a dexterous but controlled approach, pleasantly florid without over-fussiness, and his rapport with his bandmates, bassist Paul Michael and percussionist Hammadi Rencurrell, is impressively sure and easy.

His material, too, sits well within the trio's comfort zone, lyrical yet braced with just enough lightly funky tension to give it purchase. Downside: he has a slightly dreamy, other-worldly air about him (his band's name references religious writer C. S. Lewis), and his occasional lightly crooned, floating vocals are something of a distraction (especially given the inaudibility of the lyrics).

When the trio hits a groove and allows Geyevu free rein to demonstrate his considerable improvisational chops, however, Sojourner's music really takes off, the band's robustness and vigour skilfully tempered with sensitivity and delicacy, and in pieces such as 'Rise Above It', which featured a lively, spark-striking duet between Geyevu and Rencurrell, and on the odd latin-flavoured selection, they are zesty and infectiously exuberant.

With accentuation of the above-mentioned positive, the elimination of the negative (and avoiding messing with Mr. In-Between), Sojourner should be able to carve out a respectable niche for themselves in today's jazz market.

 

 

 

Chris Parker

Chris Parker was commissioning editor for Quartet Books jazz list and publisher of Wire magazine and has written on jazz forJazz Review and Jazzwise, the Independent, the Daily Telegraph and The Times).

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