ART THEMEN / PETE WHITTAKER / GEORGE DOUBLE - Thane & The Villeins
Hadleigh Jazz Records
Art Themen (tenor saxophone); Pete Whittaker (organ); George Double (drums)
This is Art Themen having enormous fun. Nothing to prove: get out there, throttle back and just do it with two friends. Doin’ it for Art! Forget your memory of Art propelled through ‘Captain Adventure’ by Stan Tracey’s percussive piano or the Art Themen of Graham Collier’s ‘Symphony of Scorpions’ as he battling the brass. This is a different Art, older, wiser, just as good and amazingly fresh.
Not sure how widely known it is: Art Themen has a sense of humour. In conversation with Art recently he shared his love of scabrous stories. The design of the album ‘Thane and the Villeins’ is a product of Art’s idiosyncratic humour. The trio (Art Themen, Pete Whittaker and George Double) have an ongoing joke that townies Pete and Art from Wolverhampton and Manchester are in awe of George Double from Hadleigh in Suffolk who they imagine hails from an area of moated castles tabards, sashes and swords.
Drummer George Double has played with Shirley Bassey, Marc Almond and Jack Jones. Organist Pete Whittaker has just emerged from the Nigel Price Organ trio to join Themen to make up the trio. Aside from the Thane and Villeins nonsense they aim to play music that can be widely enjoyed.
It is an album about versatility with the repertoire pulled from the jazz library. ‘Recado Bossa Nova’ enables Art to display his Getzian credentials, In many ways Themen shines through by showing a little more aggression than is usually seemly in this music.
Art can be magisterial as can Dexter Gordon. Dexter’s Hanky Panky from the ‘Clubhouse’ album has the strong blues march rhythm. Art enjoys soloing here and he shows the various timbres that he can create. No monotone here. George Double beats out the steady rhythm.
Sonny Rollins has dominated tenor saxophone playing for over nearly 70 years. Here are three pieces from the Rollins book from different stages of his career. In 1956 when Rollins surprised everyone by including ‘I’m An Old Cowhand( From The Rio Grande)’ on his 1957 album ‘Way Out West’, it was as though Rollins was saying that you can make jazz out of anything. George Double does the Shelly Manne ticking out the rhythm and Art proves Sonny right: you can make jazz out of anything.
‘First Moves’ is from Sonny’s middle period book ‘The Cutting Edge’.. The group sound here works particularly well. Double rocks the whole thing along with Pete Whittaker squeezing an asthmatic sound from the organ. Completing the homage is ‘Playin’ In The Yard’ from the Next Album in 1972.
The Adderley family were gifted writers. ‘Sack O’ Woe’ from Cannonball is a piece that exudes good feelings. It is one of the tunes that evokes applause from an audience as soon as they hear the opening strains. ‘Sweet Emma’ from cornetist Nat has a pulsating rhythm that enables Pete Whittaker to make a subtle statement powering down the organ until it becomes very churchy under Themen’s solo. Unfortunately, the track fades out just as the whole piece sets off.
Art’s version of ‘Willow Weep For Me’ is enthralling, taking you through, bar by bar, his version of the beautiful melody, characteristically avoiding sentimentality. His ballad playing now has a sinewy quality exploring depths that he never used to reach. Memorable. The highlight of the album.
Finally, I would like to congratulate whoever recorded the album at the University of Nottingham. The clarity of the recording captures Art’s sound and places it squarely into one of the speakers. At times, the sound of the tenor , its fidelity, can be startling.
Art is one of the great tenor players that dominated the sixties and seventies: Don Weller, Tony Coe, Don Rendell, Bobby Wellins. ‘Thane and The Villeins’ shows that this great artist still has the power to absorb you.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
Hadleigh Jazz Records
Art Themen (tenor saxophone); Pete Whittaker (organ); George Double (drums)
This is Art Themen having enormous fun. Nothing to prove: get out there, throttle back and just do it with two friends. Doin’ it for Art! Forget your memory of Art propelled through ‘Captain Adventure’ by Stan Tracey’s percussive piano or the Art Themen of Graham Collier’s ‘Symphony of Scorpions’ as he battling the brass. This is a different Art, older, wiser, just as good and amazingly fresh.
Not sure how widely known it is: Art Themen has a sense of humour. In conversation with Art recently he shared his love of scabrous stories. The design of the album ‘Thane and the Villeins’ is a product of Art’s idiosyncratic humour. The trio (Art Themen, Pete Whittaker and George Double) have an ongoing joke that townies Pete and Art from Wolverhampton and Manchester are in awe of George Double from Hadleigh in Suffolk who they imagine hails from an area of moated castles tabards, sashes and swords.
Drummer George Double has played with Shirley Bassey, Marc Almond and Jack Jones. Organist Pete Whittaker has just emerged from the Nigel Price Organ trio to join Themen to make up the trio. Aside from the Thane and Villeins nonsense they aim to play music that can be widely enjoyed.
It is an album about versatility with the repertoire pulled from the jazz library. ‘Recado Bossa Nova’ enables Art to display his Getzian credentials, In many ways Themen shines through by showing a little more aggression than is usually seemly in this music.
Art can be magisterial as can Dexter Gordon. Dexter’s Hanky Panky from the ‘Clubhouse’ album has the strong blues march rhythm. Art enjoys soloing here and he shows the various timbres that he can create. No monotone here. George Double beats out the steady rhythm.
Sonny Rollins has dominated tenor saxophone playing for over nearly 70 years. Here are three pieces from the Rollins book from different stages of his career. In 1956 when Rollins surprised everyone by including ‘I’m An Old Cowhand( From The Rio Grande)’ on his 1957 album ‘Way Out West’, it was as though Rollins was saying that you can make jazz out of anything. George Double does the Shelly Manne ticking out the rhythm and Art proves Sonny right: you can make jazz out of anything.
‘First Moves’ is from Sonny’s middle period book ‘The Cutting Edge’.. The group sound here works particularly well. Double rocks the whole thing along with Pete Whittaker squeezing an asthmatic sound from the organ. Completing the homage is ‘Playin’ In The Yard’ from the Next Album in 1972.
The Adderley family were gifted writers. ‘Sack O’ Woe’ from Cannonball is a piece that exudes good feelings. It is one of the tunes that evokes applause from an audience as soon as they hear the opening strains. ‘Sweet Emma’ from cornetist Nat has a pulsating rhythm that enables Pete Whittaker to make a subtle statement powering down the organ until it becomes very churchy under Themen’s solo. Unfortunately, the track fades out just as the whole piece sets off.
Art’s version of ‘Willow Weep For Me’ is enthralling, taking you through, bar by bar, his version of the beautiful melody, characteristically avoiding sentimentality. His ballad playing now has a sinewy quality exploring depths that he never used to reach. Memorable. The highlight of the album.
Finally, I would like to congratulate whoever recorded the album at the University of Nottingham. The clarity of the recording captures Art’s sound and places it squarely into one of the speakers. At times, the sound of the tenor , its fidelity, can be startling.
Art is one of the great tenor players that dominated the sixties and seventies: Don Weller, Tony Coe, Don Rendell, Bobby Wellins. ‘Thane and The Villeins’ shows that this great artist still has the power to absorb you.
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
