ART THEMEN / DAVE BARRY QUARTET - Hank Panky
TRIO TR 606
Art Themen (Tenor & Soprano Saxophone); Dave Barry (Drums); Gareth Williams (Piano); Dave Green (Double Bass)
A new album from Art Themen should be a cause for celebration. If there was any justice in this world, there isn’t, new work from such an important figure in the UK jazz world would be marked by an edition of the South Bank Show with Melvyn Bragg extolling the achievements of Art. May be there would be a special concert in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, a long article in the Guardian, Art’s life and achievements would be explored in detail on Improviser of the Week on Radio 3. Sky Arts would play interviews by the many musicians who have played with Art over the years.
None of the above will happen. There might be some mention in one of the tiny spots in the cultural ghettos allocated to jazz by our national broadcaster. Why does this society value more highly musicians playing from manuscripts rather than musicians playing out of their own creativity? Prestige and rewards are lavished on the manuscript maestros condescension.
Art has played with powerful major figures: Stan Tracey, Graham Collier, Barbara Thompson. Art’s unusual tone, sometimes said to be bleak but should more accurately be described as a mixture of burnt ochre, blended with talisker and the tang of gauloise. His harmonic ingenuity is noticed even less, the fine gradations of tone he produces within a solo are remarkable.
While we celebrate Art, we have to remember to note the achievements, just as much, of the bass player Dave Green. Dave has probably played in more contexts than Art ranging from recently, boogie woogie, to Humphrey Lyttleton to the Rendell Carr Quintet to the Charlie Watts big band to Stan Tracey.
Stan Tracey is the link. Both men played on Tracey’s great, tumultuous, rumbustious album ‘The Return of Captain Adventure’, one of the greatest albums of the past fifty years. Both Themen and Green have subtly changed since then but they have remained true to themselves.
In ‘Black Narcissus’ the soprano wends its way through the song with many cogent embellishments. Dave Green is subdued initially until towards the end when he reaches for the high notes of his bass. Throughout the album the bass playing is sensitive and with a rhythmic power that he has developed over the years. The sheer beauty of the bass is well captured in the recording.
Sometimes you hear the playing of a well-known composition and you realise it is difficult to imagine a better interpretation. Art’s contribution to Duke Ellington’s ‘Prelude To A Kiss’ is peerless ballad playing, preserving the beauty and avoiding the sentimentality. The adroitness of Art’s line and the sinewy harmonic twists of tone are not just satisfying but constantly intriguing.
‘I Mean You’ is, for a moment, reminiscent of Art and Stan Tracey. Art squirms his way into his solo revelling in guttural sounds. The mounting tension of Gareth Williams’ wayward solo is masterly and only tangentially Monk like. Gareth has a fluency that Monk never achieved. In ‘Without A Song’ Williams is for a time rhapsodic and the theme is serpentine as he winds his line around the song. In Sonny Rollins ‘Solid’ Art’s long lines unfurl with passion.
Dave Barry dominates the album by not dominating. In the past he has professed admiration for Tony Williams, Williams rarely showed the restraint that Barry shows throughout the album. Less really is more. His latinesque intro to ‘Invitation’ is beautifully balanced. Barry’s music is sensitive, finely judged and precisely percussive.
In an interview, a couple of years ago, Art mused. ‘I suppose my playing has changed. There's the old buffer bit, you play slow, you play fewer notes and hopefully there is a lot more meaning in those notes. Something happens, could be maturity…..‘If you're no longer cutting the mustard, you have to make sure that somebody tells you, pulls you off the stage like they did in the old Edwardian music halls with the shepherd’s crook. I've got a dozen people ready to tell me the moment I’m not doing it any more. Terribly important.’
Art does not have to worry. Everyone on this album is ‘cutting the mustard’; no one deserves the shepherd’s crook.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
TRIO TR 606
Art Themen (Tenor & Soprano Saxophone); Dave Barry (Drums); Gareth Williams (Piano); Dave Green (Double Bass)
A new album from Art Themen should be a cause for celebration. If there was any justice in this world, there isn’t, new work from such an important figure in the UK jazz world would be marked by an edition of the South Bank Show with Melvyn Bragg extolling the achievements of Art. May be there would be a special concert in the Queen Elizabeth Hall, a long article in the Guardian, Art’s life and achievements would be explored in detail on Improviser of the Week on Radio 3. Sky Arts would play interviews by the many musicians who have played with Art over the years.
None of the above will happen. There might be some mention in one of the tiny spots in the cultural ghettos allocated to jazz by our national broadcaster. Why does this society value more highly musicians playing from manuscripts rather than musicians playing out of their own creativity? Prestige and rewards are lavished on the manuscript maestros condescension.
Art has played with powerful major figures: Stan Tracey, Graham Collier, Barbara Thompson. Art’s unusual tone, sometimes said to be bleak but should more accurately be described as a mixture of burnt ochre, blended with talisker and the tang of gauloise. His harmonic ingenuity is noticed even less, the fine gradations of tone he produces within a solo are remarkable.
While we celebrate Art, we have to remember to note the achievements, just as much, of the bass player Dave Green. Dave has probably played in more contexts than Art ranging from recently, boogie woogie, to Humphrey Lyttleton to the Rendell Carr Quintet to the Charlie Watts big band to Stan Tracey.
Stan Tracey is the link. Both men played on Tracey’s great, tumultuous, rumbustious album ‘The Return of Captain Adventure’, one of the greatest albums of the past fifty years. Both Themen and Green have subtly changed since then but they have remained true to themselves.
In ‘Black Narcissus’ the soprano wends its way through the song with many cogent embellishments. Dave Green is subdued initially until towards the end when he reaches for the high notes of his bass. Throughout the album the bass playing is sensitive and with a rhythmic power that he has developed over the years. The sheer beauty of the bass is well captured in the recording.
Sometimes you hear the playing of a well-known composition and you realise it is difficult to imagine a better interpretation. Art’s contribution to Duke Ellington’s ‘Prelude To A Kiss’ is peerless ballad playing, preserving the beauty and avoiding the sentimentality. The adroitness of Art’s line and the sinewy harmonic twists of tone are not just satisfying but constantly intriguing.
‘I Mean You’ is, for a moment, reminiscent of Art and Stan Tracey. Art squirms his way into his solo revelling in guttural sounds. The mounting tension of Gareth Williams’ wayward solo is masterly and only tangentially Monk like. Gareth has a fluency that Monk never achieved. In ‘Without A Song’ Williams is for a time rhapsodic and the theme is serpentine as he winds his line around the song. In Sonny Rollins ‘Solid’ Art’s long lines unfurl with passion.
Dave Barry dominates the album by not dominating. In the past he has professed admiration for Tony Williams, Williams rarely showed the restraint that Barry shows throughout the album. Less really is more. His latinesque intro to ‘Invitation’ is beautifully balanced. Barry’s music is sensitive, finely judged and precisely percussive.
In an interview, a couple of years ago, Art mused. ‘I suppose my playing has changed. There's the old buffer bit, you play slow, you play fewer notes and hopefully there is a lot more meaning in those notes. Something happens, could be maturity…..‘If you're no longer cutting the mustard, you have to make sure that somebody tells you, pulls you off the stage like they did in the old Edwardian music halls with the shepherd’s crook. I've got a dozen people ready to tell me the moment I’m not doing it any more. Terribly important.’
Art does not have to worry. Everyone on this album is ‘cutting the mustard’; no one deserves the shepherd’s crook.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
