CHELTENHAM JAZZ FESTIVAL 2022
Friday 29th April - ZOE RAHMAN QUINTET
Photo copyright John Watson/jazzcamera.co.uk
Zoe Rahman (piano); Rowland Sutherland (flutes); Byron Wallen (trumpet); Flo Moore (bass); Cheryl Alleyne (drums)
Zoe Rahman is a pianist’s pianist who has managed to shrug off glib descriptions such as “pianist’s pianist” by targeting her classical background and stunning technical facility in jazz toward realising emotionally resonant musical creations. In albums including 2006 Mercury Prize nominated Melting Pot and 2012’s MOBO winning Kindred Spirits she has created a body of work with the very best of serious musicians and chums like Nikki Iles— we just wish there was more of it. So an opportunity to hear new work is always welcome.
Opening with Red Squirrel as a callback to her 2019 Cheltenham piano duo set Nikki Yeoh gave us an immediate sense of what was special about this particular quintet, with the unusual combination of flute and trumpet with two heavyweights Rowland Sutherland and Byron Wallen drawing the front line. It was mostly a set of untested music, rich and crunchy jazzer’s jazz with something of the Dolphy/Cherry/avant idiom in the thematic writing. Her soloing in Louise is also tremendously exciting, reminiscent of Robert Mitchell’s power and facility with the right hand — while being more widely regarded for his left hand. A comparison of the two is for another time but to me they’re both sides of a very shiny coin indeed.
I’ve absolutely adored bass wunderkind Flo Moore’s work with Cong-Fusion, though her solo tonight for whatever reason didn’t excite me as much or seem up to her overall general standard, but with the sheets in front of them all and trying out this new material with the incredible facility and sense of freedom in this group, you might not hit everything bang on first time. All in all, Cheryl Alleyne on drums completed a quintet of versatile accomplishment that you’d love to see growing and pushing the envelope night after night. Technical facility allied to emotional depth gives her music a sense of depth musically and emotionally.
The music is heartfelt with immediate emotional inspirations: Sweet Jasmine, written with her daughter in mind, the reflective Maya (featured on the album Kindred Spirits) written for one of her nieces, her encore Conversation With Nellie (her grandmother) and let’s enjoy (or wince at) the adopted title to an otherwise fairly serious composition donated by her daughter Jasmine in the form of “Bass In Your Smiling Face”. The gig overall was dedicated to her longtime close collaborator bassist George Mraz who died last year, “a sad loss to the jazz world.”
The short festival set whizzed by like anybody’s. Anyone lucky enough to make it to Guiting Festival https://guitingfestival.org/zoe-rahman/ in July can look forward to extended versions of this new music, the rest of us can cross our fingers that an album will emerge from when she goes into this studio this month. If this preview is anything to go by, it should make a great and much desired continuation to an already exemplary catalogue and career.
Reviewed by AJ Dehany
PHOTO CREDIT: Photo copyright John Watson/jazzcamera.co.uk
AJ Dehany writes about music, art and stuff at ajdehany.co.uk
Zoe Rahman is a pianist’s pianist who has managed to shrug off glib descriptions such as “pianist’s pianist” by targeting her classical background and stunning technical facility in jazz toward realising emotionally resonant musical creations. In albums including 2006 Mercury Prize nominated Melting Pot and 2012’s MOBO winning Kindred Spirits she has created a body of work with the very best of serious musicians and chums like Nikki Iles— we just wish there was more of it. So an opportunity to hear new work is always welcome.
Opening with Red Squirrel as a callback to her 2019 Cheltenham piano duo set Nikki Yeoh gave us an immediate sense of what was special about this particular quintet, with the unusual combination of flute and trumpet with two heavyweights Rowland Sutherland and Byron Wallen drawing the front line. It was mostly a set of untested music, rich and crunchy jazzer’s jazz with something of the Dolphy/Cherry/avant idiom in the thematic writing. Her soloing in Louise is also tremendously exciting, reminiscent of Robert Mitchell’s power and facility with the right hand — while being more widely regarded for his left hand. A comparison of the two is for another time but to me they’re both sides of a very shiny coin indeed.
I’ve absolutely adored bass wunderkind Flo Moore’s work with Cong-Fusion, though her solo tonight for whatever reason didn’t excite me as much or seem up to her overall general standard, but with the sheets in front of them all and trying out this new material with the incredible facility and sense of freedom in this group, you might not hit everything bang on first time. All in all, Cheryl Alleyne on drums completed a quintet of versatile accomplishment that you’d love to see growing and pushing the envelope night after night. Technical facility allied to emotional depth gives her music a sense of depth musically and emotionally.
The music is heartfelt with immediate emotional inspirations: Sweet Jasmine, written with her daughter in mind, the reflective Maya (featured on the album Kindred Spirits) written for one of her nieces, her encore Conversation With Nellie (her grandmother) and let’s enjoy (or wince at) the adopted title to an otherwise fairly serious composition donated by her daughter Jasmine in the form of “Bass In Your Smiling Face”. The gig overall was dedicated to her longtime close collaborator bassist George Mraz who died last year, “a sad loss to the jazz world.”
The short festival set whizzed by like anybody’s. Anyone lucky enough to make it to Guiting Festival https://guitingfestival.org/zoe-rahman/ in July can look forward to extended versions of this new music, the rest of us can cross our fingers that an album will emerge from when she goes into this studio this month. If this preview is anything to go by, it should make a great and much desired continuation to an already exemplary catalogue and career.
Reviewed by AJ Dehany
PHOTO CREDIT: Photo copyright John Watson/jazzcamera.co.uk
AJ Dehany writes about music, art and stuff at ajdehany.co.uk
Photo copyright John Watson/jazzcamera.co.uk
