ALEX MERRITT QUARTET - Anatta
(F-ire Label)
Alex Merritt (tenor saxophone), Sam Lasserson (bass), John Turville (piano), Jeff Williams (drums).
The new album by the Alex Merritt Quartet has already attracted a number of favorable reviews and it is not hard to see why. Alex Merritt’s relaxed saxophone and complex reworking of Thelonius Monk and Eubie Blake and original compositions makes this an engaging album. The title drawn from the Buddhist principle of ‘no self’ is carefully reflected in the music that fluidly moves between the instruments. Most interesting to me was the way that no one instrument can be said to dominate the playing with most of the tracks displaying a considerable amount of interplay between the instruments. This is a carefully crafted recording that showcases an emergent talent on the jazz scene at his effortless best. That there is not obvious stand out track is also in keeping with the seamless quality of the sound where the music flows together. If Alex Merritt is already known to many listeners through the work he has done with Kit Downes and others this album will undoubtedly bring this original talent to many more listeners.
Reviewed by Nick Stevenson
(F-ire Label)
Alex Merritt (tenor saxophone), Sam Lasserson (bass), John Turville (piano), Jeff Williams (drums).
The new album by the Alex Merritt Quartet has already attracted a number of favorable reviews and it is not hard to see why. Alex Merritt’s relaxed saxophone and complex reworking of Thelonius Monk and Eubie Blake and original compositions makes this an engaging album. The title drawn from the Buddhist principle of ‘no self’ is carefully reflected in the music that fluidly moves between the instruments. Most interesting to me was the way that no one instrument can be said to dominate the playing with most of the tracks displaying a considerable amount of interplay between the instruments. This is a carefully crafted recording that showcases an emergent talent on the jazz scene at his effortless best. That there is not obvious stand out track is also in keeping with the seamless quality of the sound where the music flows together. If Alex Merritt is already known to many listeners through the work he has done with Kit Downes and others this album will undoubtedly bring this original talent to many more listeners.
Reviewed by Nick Stevenson
