ATLANTICUS - Blue Haven
Union Records (Available from Bandcamp)
Peter Fraize - tenor sax; Jack Kendon - trumpet; Terry Seabrook - organ; Milo Fell - drums
Peter Fraize is a Washington DC based saxophonist, composer and educator (head of Jazz studies at George Washington University) who crossed the Atlantic in 2018 to join ubiquitous UK keys man Terry Seabrook and his a band of South Coast jazz musicians for an exhaustive 40-date tour of the UK. A day in the studio at the end of the tour captures the band simply flying through a programme of adventurous but accessible material by Fraize and Seabrook with some imaginative re-workings of a couple of standards thrown in for good measure. There’s hints of Larry Goldings’ reinvigoration of the tradition, but the touchstone must be Larry Young’s late 60s recordings, where he combined the hipness of modal and post-bop sounds with the matchless funk of the Blue Note organ trio sound. Fraize is a simply tremendous saxophonist, switching between furious Brecker-style density, lyricism and bluesy wailing with a hard-edged tone and impeccable timing: check his intro to “Moanin”, recast as a 12/8 over Milo Fell’s precise and resonant drums, or how he absolutely tears it up over the 5/4 boogaloo of ‘Swank’. Jack Kendon on trumpet is the perfect foil, his playing full of bebop elegance and poise, especially on the Harmon muted ‘Theme For Reggie”, brassy and declamatory on the mutant funk groove of “Blues For Alice In Wonderland” and the swagger of ‘Revival’. Seabrook multitasks on Hammond and adds excitement to his solos, and Milo Fell’s drumming is as adaptable and in the pocket as this diverse range of material demands, with extra side orders of colour and some dramatic breaks. The overall impression is of a band captured at the peak of its powers, playing material that stretches everyone in the right ways, and having a ball. Catch them live when they return to tour in July.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
Union Records (Available from Bandcamp)
Peter Fraize - tenor sax; Jack Kendon - trumpet; Terry Seabrook - organ; Milo Fell - drums
Peter Fraize is a Washington DC based saxophonist, composer and educator (head of Jazz studies at George Washington University) who crossed the Atlantic in 2018 to join ubiquitous UK keys man Terry Seabrook and his a band of South Coast jazz musicians for an exhaustive 40-date tour of the UK. A day in the studio at the end of the tour captures the band simply flying through a programme of adventurous but accessible material by Fraize and Seabrook with some imaginative re-workings of a couple of standards thrown in for good measure. There’s hints of Larry Goldings’ reinvigoration of the tradition, but the touchstone must be Larry Young’s late 60s recordings, where he combined the hipness of modal and post-bop sounds with the matchless funk of the Blue Note organ trio sound. Fraize is a simply tremendous saxophonist, switching between furious Brecker-style density, lyricism and bluesy wailing with a hard-edged tone and impeccable timing: check his intro to “Moanin”, recast as a 12/8 over Milo Fell’s precise and resonant drums, or how he absolutely tears it up over the 5/4 boogaloo of ‘Swank’. Jack Kendon on trumpet is the perfect foil, his playing full of bebop elegance and poise, especially on the Harmon muted ‘Theme For Reggie”, brassy and declamatory on the mutant funk groove of “Blues For Alice In Wonderland” and the swagger of ‘Revival’. Seabrook multitasks on Hammond and adds excitement to his solos, and Milo Fell’s drumming is as adaptable and in the pocket as this diverse range of material demands, with extra side orders of colour and some dramatic breaks. The overall impression is of a band captured at the peak of its powers, playing material that stretches everyone in the right ways, and having a ball. Catch them live when they return to tour in July.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
