ED JONES - Bending Your Ear
Photo by Lloyd Spencer
London based saxophonist, Ed Jones, has been a mainstay of the UK scene for more than twenty-five years. He has forged a distinctive sound on both tenor and soprano saxophones, and embraced diverse musical situations from straight ahead and hard hitting jazz to free improvisation along with crossover projects with Incognito and US3, and also ventured into R&B with such legendary artists as Bootsy Collins, Chaka Khan Tina Turner.
With a significant discography under his own name, Jones formed his current quartet with Ross Stanley on piano, Riaan Vosloo on bass and drummer Tim Giles back in 2011, but has waited until now to release their first recording, For Your Ears Only. With the quartet currently touring the UK, Jazz Views took the opportunity to catch up with Ed and talk to him about his latest release.
Can you tell us about your new album?
It took a long time to make, not to record it, that took less than a day. What you hear is years of playing, writing, gigging, reflection, revising, learning and developing our sound. Most of the music that you hear on the album are first takes. We tried to make the recording session a document of how we play live,that isn’t easy to achieve sometimes in the studio. The studio is a much more complex environment than a gig. So we tried to approach it like a gig and just play. We were all in the same room and there wasn’t a lot of screening off. We didn’t use headphones which was great. There wasn’t too much listening back and over analysing when we recorded, and I think that helped a lot. I'm really happy that we captured some of the spirit and essence of our live performances. The location helped as Fish Factory is a studio that all of us knew well and felt comfortable playing in. Ben Lamdin the engineer and co producer there helped enormously. The title came about when I sent the monitor mixes to a close friend of mine to check out and in the email I wrote 'For Your Ears Only'. It seemed to fit the sound of the music perfectly. It literally means something that is a secret that cannot be expressed explicitly in writing.
The Quartet has been together for nearly seven years. How do you feel the music has developed over this time?
There was group chemistry in the sound right from the first gig. It was clear that we listened and responded to each otter in a very natural way. When we first started gigging we played a mix of standards, Wayne Shorter tunes and originals. Gradually as the group sound developed I stated to bring in more original material specifically written for the group and Riaan Vosloo (Double Bass) also bought in his own tunes and Ross Stanley (Piano) also brought in some arrangements of lesser played standards. Tim Giles (Drums) is an absolute master in improvising different grooves that both change and support the nature of the material. Everybody contributes through suggesting material to play. Some gigs we might play just my tunes, or a mix. It's not really a set thing. In a soundcheck someone in the group might suggest a tune and suddenly its in the set. We might play a whole set of standards and then play a second set of originals or the other way around. Some gigs it’s all original material but Its not a fixed thing at all. I guess I’m the one who filters all of this and decides what the tunes are ultimately going to be in the set list, but it’s a very active group process that goes into those decisions. There is an intensity in how we listen to each other and allow the music to develop quite freely and a commitment to improvising so that there isn’t a set way of playing the material.
With a significant discography under his own name, Jones formed his current quartet with Ross Stanley on piano, Riaan Vosloo on bass and drummer Tim Giles back in 2011, but has waited until now to release their first recording, For Your Ears Only. With the quartet currently touring the UK, Jazz Views took the opportunity to catch up with Ed and talk to him about his latest release.
Can you tell us about your new album?
It took a long time to make, not to record it, that took less than a day. What you hear is years of playing, writing, gigging, reflection, revising, learning and developing our sound. Most of the music that you hear on the album are first takes. We tried to make the recording session a document of how we play live,that isn’t easy to achieve sometimes in the studio. The studio is a much more complex environment than a gig. So we tried to approach it like a gig and just play. We were all in the same room and there wasn’t a lot of screening off. We didn’t use headphones which was great. There wasn’t too much listening back and over analysing when we recorded, and I think that helped a lot. I'm really happy that we captured some of the spirit and essence of our live performances. The location helped as Fish Factory is a studio that all of us knew well and felt comfortable playing in. Ben Lamdin the engineer and co producer there helped enormously. The title came about when I sent the monitor mixes to a close friend of mine to check out and in the email I wrote 'For Your Ears Only'. It seemed to fit the sound of the music perfectly. It literally means something that is a secret that cannot be expressed explicitly in writing.
The Quartet has been together for nearly seven years. How do you feel the music has developed over this time?
There was group chemistry in the sound right from the first gig. It was clear that we listened and responded to each otter in a very natural way. When we first started gigging we played a mix of standards, Wayne Shorter tunes and originals. Gradually as the group sound developed I stated to bring in more original material specifically written for the group and Riaan Vosloo (Double Bass) also bought in his own tunes and Ross Stanley (Piano) also brought in some arrangements of lesser played standards. Tim Giles (Drums) is an absolute master in improvising different grooves that both change and support the nature of the material. Everybody contributes through suggesting material to play. Some gigs we might play just my tunes, or a mix. It's not really a set thing. In a soundcheck someone in the group might suggest a tune and suddenly its in the set. We might play a whole set of standards and then play a second set of originals or the other way around. Some gigs it’s all original material but Its not a fixed thing at all. I guess I’m the one who filters all of this and decides what the tunes are ultimately going to be in the set list, but it’s a very active group process that goes into those decisions. There is an intensity in how we listen to each other and allow the music to develop quite freely and a commitment to improvising so that there isn’t a set way of playing the material.
It must be a great advantage, although sometime difficult, to keep a stable personnel for the quartet, enabling you to build that special rapport so essential in music that has a lot of improvisation?
It is difficult, everyone in the group is busy playing lots of different music .Inevitably at different times I have had to bring in other musicians when dates clash. That's just business as usual for a bandleader.Recently the pianist Mathew Bourne depped for Ross Stanley for a couple of gigs ,and that was great as he learnt all the material and then applied his unique voice to it which was amazing. I think we have got to the point where we might not have gigged for a while,then when we do, it feels like we just take off from where we left it the last time we played. Right now it’s great to have a long tour of 15 dates with the same line up on each date this spring as we can play together on a nightly basis. We have just finished a run of five nights in a row which feels amazing .There is no substitute for this kind of intense performance schedule in terms of developing the music.
The longest track on the album is 'Marielyst' at just under the thirteen minute mark. The piece has a wonderful structure and feel to it as it progresses, did you Indend to write a long melodic piece as a centrepiece or has the composition developed over time?
I wrote and recorded that piece for the first Killer Shrimp album back in 2006 so it’s been around a while, although we play it very differently from that band. It didn’t start life as how it sounds now. We have definitely expanded it out and stretched its shape. When I first wrote it was just a simple tune which for some reason reminded me of the time I used to visit a place called Marielyst in Denmark. I staying out in the forest close to the sea which in winter was often frozen over.When the quartet started playing it I began telling some of those stories as an introduction before we commenced. A lot of the drama in the piece is definitely mirrors some of the stories of those times.
The only piece not written by yourself is 'Solstice' by Riaan, a truly beautiful piece that you seem to relish playing (love your sound on this, by the way...superb tenor playing!). Is this a tune you play together live or written for the album?
Thank you. I do love playing this piece as you say it’s very beautiful. Riaan wrote and recorded this quite a while ago for another project of his. We found a way to expand it after a while so it has a much different shape to when we first started to play it. We don’t discuss this expansion process much as a group and it’s not a set approach, it's just about letting the tune go where it feels it wants to go each time we play. It's a ballad that goes to a lot of different places before coming home.
It is difficult, everyone in the group is busy playing lots of different music .Inevitably at different times I have had to bring in other musicians when dates clash. That's just business as usual for a bandleader.Recently the pianist Mathew Bourne depped for Ross Stanley for a couple of gigs ,and that was great as he learnt all the material and then applied his unique voice to it which was amazing. I think we have got to the point where we might not have gigged for a while,then when we do, it feels like we just take off from where we left it the last time we played. Right now it’s great to have a long tour of 15 dates with the same line up on each date this spring as we can play together on a nightly basis. We have just finished a run of five nights in a row which feels amazing .There is no substitute for this kind of intense performance schedule in terms of developing the music.
The longest track on the album is 'Marielyst' at just under the thirteen minute mark. The piece has a wonderful structure and feel to it as it progresses, did you Indend to write a long melodic piece as a centrepiece or has the composition developed over time?
I wrote and recorded that piece for the first Killer Shrimp album back in 2006 so it’s been around a while, although we play it very differently from that band. It didn’t start life as how it sounds now. We have definitely expanded it out and stretched its shape. When I first wrote it was just a simple tune which for some reason reminded me of the time I used to visit a place called Marielyst in Denmark. I staying out in the forest close to the sea which in winter was often frozen over.When the quartet started playing it I began telling some of those stories as an introduction before we commenced. A lot of the drama in the piece is definitely mirrors some of the stories of those times.
The only piece not written by yourself is 'Solstice' by Riaan, a truly beautiful piece that you seem to relish playing (love your sound on this, by the way...superb tenor playing!). Is this a tune you play together live or written for the album?
Thank you. I do love playing this piece as you say it’s very beautiful. Riaan wrote and recorded this quite a while ago for another project of his. We found a way to expand it after a while so it has a much different shape to when we first started to play it. We don’t discuss this expansion process much as a group and it’s not a set approach, it's just about letting the tune go where it feels it wants to go each time we play. It's a ballad that goes to a lot of different places before coming home.
Another wonderful piece is the closer, 'Ebb And Flow' that is captivating from the beginning right to the climax that build up throughout the piece? It sounds very free, but one can hear a definite structure. Was this a conscious decision or has the iece developed through live performance?
I'm glad that comes across as I wrote this piece with the idea of having a mixture of written material and free improvisation. So some of what you hear is written, for example the first piano entry the rest of us are playing free. Different instruments cue the sections through playing the written material so it’s completely different each time we perform. It's a writing approach that I'd like to explore much further in the future. We recorded two takes of 'Ebb and Flow' for the album and it was really difficult to choose between them .
One track, 'Starbright (For Wayne Shorter)' is co-composed with with, and features vocalist Brigitte Beraha. This sounds like it could (and should) be part of an ongong project. Do you have plans to record more music with Brigitte?
Brigitte is one of my favourite musicians and I’d love to work with her again I hope we can do it again soon. When I wrote the piece originally I had a provisional title for it which was 'Starbright' as I could hear Wayne Shorter’s sound in there somewhere and had just finished reading his biography in which he talks about the influence of astrology in his music. I don’t know why but I started to hear lyrics in the composition but had no idea what they would or should be. Brigitte had actually sat in with the band on a few gigs so it was an opportunity to extend that and invite her to collaborate on the lyric writing. After talking about the composition she went away and came back with these incredible lyrics that wove a wonderful narrative through the titles of some Wayne Shorter compositions.
As well as the quartet, you have also formed a free improvising trio, Bad Ash. Can you tell us more about the trio and any plans you have to record?
The trio came about a very interesting organic way. I have known Mark Sanders (Drums) since the late 1980’s and we played together quite a bit around that period late 80’s to early 90’s and then not at all for nearly 20 years. We were both on the same gig as part of the all day tribute concert for John Stevens at the London Jazz Festival in 2014. We talked afterwards then about doing something together again. Around the same time I was playing some one off gigs with Mark Lewandowski (Double Bass) and we talked a lot about our shared passion for Free Improvisation. Purely by chance we both were in the audience for an incredible Roscoe Mitchell gig at Cafe Oto that Mark Sanders was playing in. After the gig the three of us were talking and Mark (Sanders) suddenly said “Let’s do some playing together “ Out of that I went away and organised our first tour of the UK in 2016. No rehearsals no charts just straight in,total free improv. We didn’t even play for together before the first gig, we all just kind of knew that it was going to work. In each of the cities we played in I invited a local improvising musician to join us, so by the end of the tour we had all played together as a trio with people like Mathew Bourne, Paul Dunmall, Corey Mwamba, Alex Bonney,and Nick Malcom. We recorded as a trio last summer and I think that’s coming out later this year. Hopefully we are going to tour again next year. I’d also love to record a larger ensemble with all the other collaborators from that tour at some point
For the gearheads, you play DW saxophones exclusively. Can you tell us about your horns and set up?
Until recently I had played the same instruments both Tenor (Selmer Super Balanced Action) for over 30 years and Soprano (Yanigasawa Curved) for 25 years and really wasn’t contemplating changing them at all. Once in a while I’d try a new modern horn just as keeping abreast of what was out there, but nothing really grabbed me. Then about five years ago Dave Walker who owns and runs All Brass and Woodwind in Leeds showed me a prototype Tenor saxophone that he had built from scratch. Ergonomically it was really difficult to play but I was blown away by the sound. Two years ago after revising the set up he asked me to try another one which I fell in love with,and that’s the one I play now. My Selmer SBA has stayed in its case ever since.
Both horns are hand built, including the process of hand panel beating the metal which is time consuming but really effects the sound in an incredible way. The quality of the craftsmanship and the materials really defines them. The Tenor is made from a mixture of Copper and Brass a combination Dave calls a Yellow back. It's unlacquered with a silver nickel crook. The Soprano is a lacquered Yellow back. Both horns have a big dark rich full sound that is unique and is still blowing me away every time I play them.Its like playing a vintage horn except that it’s made in the 21st century. I'm truly honoured and humbled that Dave asked me to endorse these horns.
Mouthpieces; For Tenor I play a 1950’s Metal Berg Larsen 140/2. The late great Dick Heckstall- Smith opened the tip up to an 11 star and put a false baffle in which made it both edgier and more rounded at the same time.
For Soprano Jody Jazz Hard Rubber 7: It gives a darker warmer soprano sound with a little bit of soft top which cuts. Tonally it has very good flexibility. Reeds I play on La Voz either Medium or Medium Hard.
And who are your influences?
That in some ways is the hardest question. In terms of saxophone specific (and this is leaving a lot out) amongst the players that I’ve taken the time to study that have left an imprint, these include Lester Young, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, Stan Getz, Michael Brecker, early Jan Garbarek, Dewey Redman, Joe Lovano, George Garzone and Steve Lacy. The music of Miles Davis from all eras has been a kind of constant touchstone. Musically I’m pretty much influenced by everything that touches me that I become a fan of. A lot of that music is not just Jazz music but under the big umbrellas of Classical, Pop, R&B, Experimental and Folk music as well. There's all the early sideman experiences working with older musicians people like John Stevens, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Clifford Jarvis, Dr Lonnie Smith. Their music and experiences playing with them those were huge influences and lessons.
There's also all the non musical other life stuff like books films,art,politics,philosophy cooking,relationships,travel that feeds into the big inspiration/influence pot.
You are directly involved with Jazz Education with your involvement with the Jazz Summer School held each August in Falmouth. Can you tell us more about this?
I also teach at Leeds College Of Music on both the Jazz and Popular Music pathways and have done so for the last 12 years. The process of teaching has become a big part and extension of my own research and musical self education in a very profound way.
The Falmouth Jazz Summer School started in 2012 and is for mixed abilities and age groups from complete beginners through to more advanced pre college students,and semi professional musicians looking to develop their passion for the music. We work with both small group and large group ensembles with an emphasis on performance opportunities every evening throughout the week. There are opportunities for one to one lessons as well as group sessions that are instrument specific. It's very social and great fun!! It's been the same group of tutors throughout since it started so we have developed a unique way of working together. Each year a guest artist comes in specifically to deliver a workshop and performance. Last year we were very fortunate to have the great Kenny Werner come in for the whole week.
And plans for the future?
It’s all really positive and exciting at the moment. I’ve written a whole bunch of new material for the Quartet that we have started to work into the sets each night of the tour and that’s going great. I'm hoping to record all of that right after the tour finishes. I'm heading into the studio next week with Killer Shrimp which I co lead with Damon Brown(Trumpet) and a new Rhythm section of Adam King:Double Bass and Chris Draper :Drums.
It’s been eight years since the last album but it already sounds and feels fresh again,we played some storming gigs last year and I’m really excited to record and get that project back up and running again. The Bad Ash stuff I’ve already touched on. There is a collaborative project on the horizon later in the year involving musicians from Japan and the UK in an ensemble that I’ve put together. It's at the planing stage so I don’t want to spook it by saying too much, in case it doesn’t happen, but that’s pretty exciting. Moving forward I really hope to find more time to practice the new horns and for study in general.S ome extra hours in the day to fit everything in would help.!!!
I'm glad that comes across as I wrote this piece with the idea of having a mixture of written material and free improvisation. So some of what you hear is written, for example the first piano entry the rest of us are playing free. Different instruments cue the sections through playing the written material so it’s completely different each time we perform. It's a writing approach that I'd like to explore much further in the future. We recorded two takes of 'Ebb and Flow' for the album and it was really difficult to choose between them .
One track, 'Starbright (For Wayne Shorter)' is co-composed with with, and features vocalist Brigitte Beraha. This sounds like it could (and should) be part of an ongong project. Do you have plans to record more music with Brigitte?
Brigitte is one of my favourite musicians and I’d love to work with her again I hope we can do it again soon. When I wrote the piece originally I had a provisional title for it which was 'Starbright' as I could hear Wayne Shorter’s sound in there somewhere and had just finished reading his biography in which he talks about the influence of astrology in his music. I don’t know why but I started to hear lyrics in the composition but had no idea what they would or should be. Brigitte had actually sat in with the band on a few gigs so it was an opportunity to extend that and invite her to collaborate on the lyric writing. After talking about the composition she went away and came back with these incredible lyrics that wove a wonderful narrative through the titles of some Wayne Shorter compositions.
As well as the quartet, you have also formed a free improvising trio, Bad Ash. Can you tell us more about the trio and any plans you have to record?
The trio came about a very interesting organic way. I have known Mark Sanders (Drums) since the late 1980’s and we played together quite a bit around that period late 80’s to early 90’s and then not at all for nearly 20 years. We were both on the same gig as part of the all day tribute concert for John Stevens at the London Jazz Festival in 2014. We talked afterwards then about doing something together again. Around the same time I was playing some one off gigs with Mark Lewandowski (Double Bass) and we talked a lot about our shared passion for Free Improvisation. Purely by chance we both were in the audience for an incredible Roscoe Mitchell gig at Cafe Oto that Mark Sanders was playing in. After the gig the three of us were talking and Mark (Sanders) suddenly said “Let’s do some playing together “ Out of that I went away and organised our first tour of the UK in 2016. No rehearsals no charts just straight in,total free improv. We didn’t even play for together before the first gig, we all just kind of knew that it was going to work. In each of the cities we played in I invited a local improvising musician to join us, so by the end of the tour we had all played together as a trio with people like Mathew Bourne, Paul Dunmall, Corey Mwamba, Alex Bonney,and Nick Malcom. We recorded as a trio last summer and I think that’s coming out later this year. Hopefully we are going to tour again next year. I’d also love to record a larger ensemble with all the other collaborators from that tour at some point
For the gearheads, you play DW saxophones exclusively. Can you tell us about your horns and set up?
Until recently I had played the same instruments both Tenor (Selmer Super Balanced Action) for over 30 years and Soprano (Yanigasawa Curved) for 25 years and really wasn’t contemplating changing them at all. Once in a while I’d try a new modern horn just as keeping abreast of what was out there, but nothing really grabbed me. Then about five years ago Dave Walker who owns and runs All Brass and Woodwind in Leeds showed me a prototype Tenor saxophone that he had built from scratch. Ergonomically it was really difficult to play but I was blown away by the sound. Two years ago after revising the set up he asked me to try another one which I fell in love with,and that’s the one I play now. My Selmer SBA has stayed in its case ever since.
Both horns are hand built, including the process of hand panel beating the metal which is time consuming but really effects the sound in an incredible way. The quality of the craftsmanship and the materials really defines them. The Tenor is made from a mixture of Copper and Brass a combination Dave calls a Yellow back. It's unlacquered with a silver nickel crook. The Soprano is a lacquered Yellow back. Both horns have a big dark rich full sound that is unique and is still blowing me away every time I play them.Its like playing a vintage horn except that it’s made in the 21st century. I'm truly honoured and humbled that Dave asked me to endorse these horns.
Mouthpieces; For Tenor I play a 1950’s Metal Berg Larsen 140/2. The late great Dick Heckstall- Smith opened the tip up to an 11 star and put a false baffle in which made it both edgier and more rounded at the same time.
For Soprano Jody Jazz Hard Rubber 7: It gives a darker warmer soprano sound with a little bit of soft top which cuts. Tonally it has very good flexibility. Reeds I play on La Voz either Medium or Medium Hard.
And who are your influences?
That in some ways is the hardest question. In terms of saxophone specific (and this is leaving a lot out) amongst the players that I’ve taken the time to study that have left an imprint, these include Lester Young, Sonny Rollins, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Joe Henderson, Stan Getz, Michael Brecker, early Jan Garbarek, Dewey Redman, Joe Lovano, George Garzone and Steve Lacy. The music of Miles Davis from all eras has been a kind of constant touchstone. Musically I’m pretty much influenced by everything that touches me that I become a fan of. A lot of that music is not just Jazz music but under the big umbrellas of Classical, Pop, R&B, Experimental and Folk music as well. There's all the early sideman experiences working with older musicians people like John Stevens, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Clifford Jarvis, Dr Lonnie Smith. Their music and experiences playing with them those were huge influences and lessons.
There's also all the non musical other life stuff like books films,art,politics,philosophy cooking,relationships,travel that feeds into the big inspiration/influence pot.
You are directly involved with Jazz Education with your involvement with the Jazz Summer School held each August in Falmouth. Can you tell us more about this?
I also teach at Leeds College Of Music on both the Jazz and Popular Music pathways and have done so for the last 12 years. The process of teaching has become a big part and extension of my own research and musical self education in a very profound way.
The Falmouth Jazz Summer School started in 2012 and is for mixed abilities and age groups from complete beginners through to more advanced pre college students,and semi professional musicians looking to develop their passion for the music. We work with both small group and large group ensembles with an emphasis on performance opportunities every evening throughout the week. There are opportunities for one to one lessons as well as group sessions that are instrument specific. It's very social and great fun!! It's been the same group of tutors throughout since it started so we have developed a unique way of working together. Each year a guest artist comes in specifically to deliver a workshop and performance. Last year we were very fortunate to have the great Kenny Werner come in for the whole week.
And plans for the future?
It’s all really positive and exciting at the moment. I’ve written a whole bunch of new material for the Quartet that we have started to work into the sets each night of the tour and that’s going great. I'm hoping to record all of that right after the tour finishes. I'm heading into the studio next week with Killer Shrimp which I co lead with Damon Brown(Trumpet) and a new Rhythm section of Adam King:Double Bass and Chris Draper :Drums.
It’s been eight years since the last album but it already sounds and feels fresh again,we played some storming gigs last year and I’m really excited to record and get that project back up and running again. The Bad Ash stuff I’ve already touched on. There is a collaborative project on the horizon later in the year involving musicians from Japan and the UK in an ensemble that I’ve put together. It's at the planing stage so I don’t want to spook it by saying too much, in case it doesn’t happen, but that’s pretty exciting. Moving forward I really hope to find more time to practice the new horns and for study in general.S ome extra hours in the day to fit everything in would help.!!!
|
Click on the album cover to read our review
|
For more information visit Ed Jones website.
