SQUARE 0NE - In Motion
Joe Williamson: guitar; Peter Johnstone: piaon; David Bowden: bass; Stephen Henderson: drums, percussion.
Recorded April 2016 by Stuart Hamilton at Castlesound Studios, Pencaitland.
This CD has been around for a year or so, but I've enjoyed listening to it so much that I wanted to draw Jazz Views reader's attention to it. The set opens with ‘Square one’, in which plucked electric pattern is overdubbed with strummed acoustic guitar to set up a tentative theme that develops in an exciting guitar behind which piano, bass and drums pick up a ticking, staccato groove. The tune develops post-bop stop-start rhythms while carrying a tune that has a jazz-funk vibe.
The guitar work has a subtle blend of effects, many of which come from a jazz-funk sound. As this tune develops the piano taps out a Morse-code message before launching into a solo with mixes runs and trills that wouldn’t be out of place in a more bop-oriented group. If this mixture of jazz-funk with bop sounds a little odd, it is to the band’s credit that they pull it off so effortlessly. Each player is often working a tempo that is deliberately at odds with his band mates, so that there is a continually ebb and flow of the rhythmic centre of each piece. Each piece has a beguiling rhythmic structure, and clear and simple melodies that are immediately engaging.
As a debut release from quite a young band, hailing from Glasgow’s Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, this sets out their stall as a promising quartet who will be well worth looking out for on tour and for their next releases.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Joe Williamson: guitar; Peter Johnstone: piaon; David Bowden: bass; Stephen Henderson: drums, percussion.
Recorded April 2016 by Stuart Hamilton at Castlesound Studios, Pencaitland.
This CD has been around for a year or so, but I've enjoyed listening to it so much that I wanted to draw Jazz Views reader's attention to it. The set opens with ‘Square one’, in which plucked electric pattern is overdubbed with strummed acoustic guitar to set up a tentative theme that develops in an exciting guitar behind which piano, bass and drums pick up a ticking, staccato groove. The tune develops post-bop stop-start rhythms while carrying a tune that has a jazz-funk vibe.
The guitar work has a subtle blend of effects, many of which come from a jazz-funk sound. As this tune develops the piano taps out a Morse-code message before launching into a solo with mixes runs and trills that wouldn’t be out of place in a more bop-oriented group. If this mixture of jazz-funk with bop sounds a little odd, it is to the band’s credit that they pull it off so effortlessly. Each player is often working a tempo that is deliberately at odds with his band mates, so that there is a continually ebb and flow of the rhythmic centre of each piece. Each piece has a beguiling rhythmic structure, and clear and simple melodies that are immediately engaging.
As a debut release from quite a young band, hailing from Glasgow’s Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, this sets out their stall as a promising quartet who will be well worth looking out for on tour and for their next releases.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
