HARDING/OUTRAM/BASHFORD - Supermood
Leo Records CD LR 761
Roz Harding, Alto sax, Voice; Mike Outram, Guitar, Voice; Jim Bashford, Drums, Voice
Recorded at Momentum Studios, Plympton, Devon, 15,16,17 February 2016
This is Supermood’s début album, unusual in that the musicians were able to move around the studio at will, under a panoply of microphones, echoing the view of Supermood as a performance group when accompanied by a 1960’s style lightshow.
The alto vacillates between downright lyrical and shabby-dirty, Harding hardly able to make up her mind. This is no loss because she is unequivocally competent at suddenly fine-tuning her playing, the cross-over slotting in perfectly to the switch between modes.
The whole trio is shabby-dirty at times, doubtless in part due to Bashford’s influence and his experiences gathered from Brit-Rock and Progressive Rock as well as the British jazz scene. Reflect from this towards Outram’s involvement and gathered influences from, for example, playing with Theo Travis and Robert Fripp on the 2007 Ambient/Progressive Rock album Double Talk.
Here is an album of thoroughly modern sounds, thoroughly rooted in jazz. I would love to see them live, because that is, I think, how they define themselves. The music is ingenious and new, full of contemplation and drama, and above all it demands and thrives on improvisation.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Leo Records CD LR 761
Roz Harding, Alto sax, Voice; Mike Outram, Guitar, Voice; Jim Bashford, Drums, Voice
Recorded at Momentum Studios, Plympton, Devon, 15,16,17 February 2016
This is Supermood’s début album, unusual in that the musicians were able to move around the studio at will, under a panoply of microphones, echoing the view of Supermood as a performance group when accompanied by a 1960’s style lightshow.
The alto vacillates between downright lyrical and shabby-dirty, Harding hardly able to make up her mind. This is no loss because she is unequivocally competent at suddenly fine-tuning her playing, the cross-over slotting in perfectly to the switch between modes.
The whole trio is shabby-dirty at times, doubtless in part due to Bashford’s influence and his experiences gathered from Brit-Rock and Progressive Rock as well as the British jazz scene. Reflect from this towards Outram’s involvement and gathered influences from, for example, playing with Theo Travis and Robert Fripp on the 2007 Ambient/Progressive Rock album Double Talk.
Here is an album of thoroughly modern sounds, thoroughly rooted in jazz. I would love to see them live, because that is, I think, how they define themselves. The music is ingenious and new, full of contemplation and drama, and above all it demands and thrives on improvisation.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
