Avishai Cohen - Gently Disturbed

With this release on his own Razdaz Recordz, Avishai Cohen firmly entrenches himself as a frontrunning innovator in the piano trio medium. The Israeli bassist is joined by Mark Guiliana on drums and countryman Shai Maestro on piano - the latter a change in personnel from Continuo (Razdaz, 2006) and Live At The Blue Note (Razdaz, 2007).

"Seattle" represents a slightly ponderous start, with a lyrical bass solo from Cohen over meandering chordal piano vamps, but it is not more than a gentle prelude to what is coming up. The next track, "Chutzpan," gives a fuller insight into the incredible locked synchronisation that exists between these three musicians. Shifting between angular, cascading motifs and jumping, jittery movements with consummate ease, the trio is well-drilled yet instinctive in its manner of interaction.

"The Ever Evolving Etude" is an outstanding track, a perfect example of Cohen's minutely accurate compositional style. Based around a couple of piano riffs and building in degrees, it works up to a frenzy of intricately subdivided phrasing with manically precise off-pulse syncopations. It's a wall of sound that doesn't stand still. Similar traits are present on tunes such as "Pinzin Kinzin," "Eleven Wives," and the dense album closer "Structure in Emotion," but they are all different enough to make the CD unpredictable.

A few slower items add further spice to the mix: "Variations in G Minor," "Puncha Puncha," and the title track, "Gently Disturbed," are more relaxed but no less crafty. It's all perfectly executed and Cohen's compositional identity has become distinctively recognisable - in piano voicing and the rhythmic intensity he draws from his group. In Maestro and Guiliana he has found ideal poetic partners.

The disc's title is reflective of the music - many of Cohen's ideas are challenging, but not inaccessible. Listeners can almost obliviously float through the advanced concepts without getting hung up, in the same way the musicians do. So, while it can take several listenings to fully understand what's going on, that effort should not be a deterrent to enjoying this release.

Track listing: Seattle; Chutzpan; Lo Baiom Velo Balyla; Pinzin Kinzin; Puncha Puncha; Eleven Wives; Gently Disturbed; The Ever Evolving Etude; Variations in G Minor; Umray; Structure in Emotion.

Personnel: Avishai Cohen: bass; Mark Guiliana: drums; Shai Maestro: piano.

Published @ allaboutjazz, 27/8/08 - click here for original.

Portico Quartet: Mercury Rising For Hang Men

The Portico Quartet are ‘indie’ in the truest sense of the word. Frederick Bernas talks to the Mercury-nominated post-jazz ensemble.

It is a genuine musical fairytale. In 2004, the Portico Quartet was just one of countless acts busking the hallowed walkways of London’s South Bank. Four short years later, the group finds itself nominated for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize, with a long list of gigs and festival appearances to its credit, and a fair degree of critical acclaim. The imminent question on the minds of all aspiring bands will be: how did they do it?

Talking to Nick Mulvey, Jack Wyllie, Milo Fitzpatrick and Duncan Bellamy before their gig at Rough Trade East, it becomes obvious their feet are firmly on the ground. Although none are originally from London, the four met in the capital when studying various courses at university and started jamming in public – “we got a really positive reaction,” says drummer Bellamy; “it was one of the things that spurred us on at first. We didn’t really know each other that well but we just started busking and everyone loved it, from little kids to old grannies and everyone in between.”

“We sold 10,000 copies of our debut album like that, about 200 a day,” Mulvey continues. “We had an industrial CD burner, so we would spend Friday nights getting them ready to sell that weekend.” In true DIY band tradition, the money was put straight back into recording time – and this notion of hard work has been a key factor in the Quartet’s rapid rise. At the end of 2007 they were rewarded with the Vortex jazz club’s Babel label releasing Knee-Deep In The North Sea, which has gone on to receive the Mercury nomination.

Another important facet of the group’s appeal is use of the Hang, a percussive steel instrument created in Switzerland by two master metallurgists and only available from this single source. “Since we’ve been selling CDs busking, people have been sharing them, showing their friends, who have been wondering ‘what’s that?’,” Duncan explains. Its mystical reverberation, which catalyses a similar trance-like aesthetic to Indonesian Gamelan music, is a hallmark of the Portico sound.

“It’s a different sound, it’s unusual,” says Mulvey, the main Hang player. “It’s a bit of a gimmick in a way, but it has a different character. It also encourages you to compose in a very different way: there are many more limitations than if we had drums, bass, sax and I was playing piano or guitar, a more standard quartet. You don’t have chromatic options, you have to work within these confines that have made us develop an unusual sort of sound.”

So how can the music itself be described? This question has the potential to open a giant can of worms, as happens here – it’s more of a group discussion than an interview. Inevitable comparisons have been drawn with the work of contemporary classical composers like Steve Reich and Philip Glass, but bassist Fitzpatrick doesn’t really go along with this – “Some of the earlier stuff was most closely paralleled to Steve Reich, but it doesn’t really sound Reichy or Glassy to me. It’s definitely patterns and cycles, changed by different harmonies on other instruments. But, to be honest, I hear hip-hop and rock rhythms, and some more experimental playing from the sax.”

According to Mulvey, the reference is related more to method than outcome – “the link with Reich is more relevant to our processes than the actual end sound, using cyclical refrains on the Hangs that build in texture rather than harmonic progression, which I suppose is arguably minimalist. But the end result is not minimalist.” At certain points in the album it would appear to be anything but, with dense layers building up gradually to a climax and sweeping angular saxophone melodies piercing through.

A multitude of influences is evident, in a manner akin to so many new bands which have often been hastily bracketed as ‘jazz’ due to difficulty in placing them anywhere else. “This is the first era where you’ve been able to grab music so quickly from all different sources using the internet,” is an explanation offered by the saxophonist, Wyllie. “Everyone’s absorbing everything, it’s part of globalisation. It’s not rigid anymore, people are crossing borders, the lines are blurring. It’s all grouped as post-jazz, although a lot of it is moving out of the jazz idea as well.”

The conversation went on for some time. Duncan came up with perhaps the best summary in that “more than anything, it’s just post-modern music. It all draws from so much different stuff that you can’t put it down – everyone borrows all the bits they want and puts it together.”

Advanced (or confusing) as the group’s musical concept may seem, it has succeeded in traversing boundaries and developing the foundations of a cult following. At the Rough Trade gig it was refreshing to see only one grey-haired devotee, surrounded by a plethora of young faces, all looking equally mesmerised by the hypnotic nuances of the group’s collective soundscape. If the Mercury prize was to be judged on the sole criterion of fostering a new open mentality in the minds of music fans, the Portico Quartet would win hands down.

But did they really expect it would all go this far? The answer is, intriguingly, a rather confident affirmative: “It’s amazing and a great excitement, and surprising on some levels, but also on other levels not surprising because we’ve always believed in the music,” says Mulvey. “I don’t think you project that far ahead, you just play music, but the belief has always been there. We play music that draws from jazz, but we operate with much more of an indie ethos. Everything that’s come our way is a result of that.”

If the 10/1 outsiders defy the odds and take this coveted award, it will be a victory not only for London’s rich progressive jazz scene, but that whole philosophy of do-it-yourself independence which permeates the modern music industry. “More people are realising that’s the best way to do it now,” says Wyllie thoughtfully. “We’ve done the DIY approach in a really hardcore way with busking, making the CDs and all that, and it shows you don’t always need record companies to do well.

“Also, I don’t think a ‘jazz’ band has won in a while, so I think it would mean a lot for opening people’s minds to this kind of music. When Roni Size won, it did a lot for drum‘n’bass, so maybe we could do the same for jazz. It’s been a really good year for British jazz, or post-jazz, with loads of bands doing things people might like. They deserve to be recognised and people should be aware of them – if we won, it could be like a gateway to new audiences.”

A Portico triumph would continue the ultimate fable for these four recent uni graduates who really are living the dream. And you never know, they might just do it.

Portico Quartet play the Vortex jazz club on August 27 and the Hoxton Bar & Grill on August 31.


Published in London Tourdates, 22/8/08.

Polar Bear - Polar Bear

Polar Bear: Polar Bear
Tin Angel Records
Release: 14 July 2008

The long-awaited third album from Sebastian Rochford’s trailblazing group does not disappoint. Polar Bear have recently been gigging material from the 75-minute disc, with themes varying from rich, reflective soundscapes to the frantic barrages of improvisation which captured the jazz world’s ears.

Leafcutter John’s electronic wizardry is more deeply embedded on the record than in live performances – he adds to the unpredictable nature of Rochford’s composition with an array of zaps, whirs, bursts of static and live samples that compliment the other musicians. The track “Industry” lives up to its name: clanking mechanical noise from John’s computer weaves a vibrant backdrop for the two saxophones’ finely-scored harmonic countermelody. Haunting vocals courtesy of Julia Biel feature in a couple of tunes, lending the band a Portisheadesque ambience on “Sunshine” and “Brian”.

As an artistic statement, Polar Bear seems calmer and more pensive than previous work. This intricately absorbing set possesses a new brand of vicious intensity. Rochford has solidified his position as a leading creative force in modern music.



< Published in London Tourdates, 8/8/08

Samay - Dingwalls, 16/7/08

The first thing that strikes you about Samay is the intriguing combination of Western and Indian instruments: guitar, bass, saxophone, Tabla and Sarod. From the opening moments of this CD launch gig, it was clear a wonderful sense of communication existed: the five musicians frequently exchanged glances and pushed each other forward during solos.

In terms of genre, the band presents a mysterious blend of Indian music, jazz, Mediterranean flamenco, eastern folk and even a hint of reggae. It is the latest in a long chain of so-called “Indo-jazz” groups, which originated in the 1960s with such protagonists as John Mayer, Joe Harriott and, later, John McLaughlin. As well as drawing on this rich history, the multi-national musicians of Samay contribute shades of their own background into a culturally diverse melting pot of different styles.

Jesse Bannister on alto sax and Italian guitarist Giuliano Modarelli stood out as improvisers, with Tabla player Bhupinder Singh Chaggar providing exactly the right percussive backdrop – at times jaw-droppingly fast or subtle and persuasive, depending on the mood of the tune. There was no shortage of individual talent on display, but the evident emphasis on collective interaction meant no one could steal the limelight – an occasional drawback of jazz concerts.

Indo-jazz is enjoying a resurgence of interest on the London scene, with groups like Samay in the vanguard. Debut album “Songs For a Global Journey” represents a pleasingly unpredictable voyage through the myriad of influences that infuse this highly refreshing sound.



< Published in London Tourdates, 8/8/08.