HENRY LOWTHER'S STILL WATERS - Can't Believe, Won't Believe
Village Life: 171013VL
Henry Lowther: trumpet, flugelhorn; Pete Hurt: tenor saxophone; Barry Green: piano; Dave Green: double bass; Paul Clarris: drums.
Anyone familiar with Henry Lowther across his career, with its various forays into Big Bands, small ensembles and the worlds of pop and rock, will know that he can cut it up as heartily as the most boisterous of showmen but is equally adept at playing with softness that calls to mind the heyday of West Coast cool jazz. It is the latter that you get on this collection, with its mix of trumpet and flugel horn. I like to think that the tone is set by two tracks from either end of this set. Track 7 is a haunting version of Bernstein’s ‘Some other time’ (from On the Town, in case you’re racking your brains trying to place it) that Lowther plays with minimal accompaniment from his band and draws out the poignancy of the tune. Track 2, ‘Mateja sleeps’, was composed after his niece fell asleep on a visit to his house and is a dreamy lullaby. There is also a piece written for Barry and Rosie Green’s baby, ‘Amber’, to carry on this celebration of little people. Lowther says that if the Green’s have a son, they ought to call him Red – to get the complete set of traffic lights. The traffic light theme must have been on his mind as track 5 is called ‘The lights of the North circular’ and was composed in memory of a set of traffic lights on a road that is very familiar to him. The lights themselves are now defunct but in the prime, served no obvious purpose and were nearly always set to green.
The humour of the bad jokes, the celebration of useless traffic lights and the general feeling of being too sceptical to be sceptical (as the title track of this collection celebrates), suggests, perhaps, a feeling of ennui and laconic world weariness. But to listen to the playing here, and the way that Lowther and Hurt interact, or the space that Barry Green’s piano finds inside the melodies, you can’t help smiling and feeling a wave of enthusiasm. I kept thinking of characters from those old Ealing comedies, who continually battled a world that was set against them and who always triumphed in the end. Perhaps that is the hope of the sceptic in Lowther – that despite every silver lining being surrounded by a big black cloud, there is still the silver lining to keep looking for. You hope that the late Pete Saberton (for whom Pete Hurt composed the closing piece, called simply ‘For Pete’) would be looking on from his own silver lining somewhere.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Village Life: 171013VL
Henry Lowther: trumpet, flugelhorn; Pete Hurt: tenor saxophone; Barry Green: piano; Dave Green: double bass; Paul Clarris: drums.
Anyone familiar with Henry Lowther across his career, with its various forays into Big Bands, small ensembles and the worlds of pop and rock, will know that he can cut it up as heartily as the most boisterous of showmen but is equally adept at playing with softness that calls to mind the heyday of West Coast cool jazz. It is the latter that you get on this collection, with its mix of trumpet and flugel horn. I like to think that the tone is set by two tracks from either end of this set. Track 7 is a haunting version of Bernstein’s ‘Some other time’ (from On the Town, in case you’re racking your brains trying to place it) that Lowther plays with minimal accompaniment from his band and draws out the poignancy of the tune. Track 2, ‘Mateja sleeps’, was composed after his niece fell asleep on a visit to his house and is a dreamy lullaby. There is also a piece written for Barry and Rosie Green’s baby, ‘Amber’, to carry on this celebration of little people. Lowther says that if the Green’s have a son, they ought to call him Red – to get the complete set of traffic lights. The traffic light theme must have been on his mind as track 5 is called ‘The lights of the North circular’ and was composed in memory of a set of traffic lights on a road that is very familiar to him. The lights themselves are now defunct but in the prime, served no obvious purpose and were nearly always set to green.
The humour of the bad jokes, the celebration of useless traffic lights and the general feeling of being too sceptical to be sceptical (as the title track of this collection celebrates), suggests, perhaps, a feeling of ennui and laconic world weariness. But to listen to the playing here, and the way that Lowther and Hurt interact, or the space that Barry Green’s piano finds inside the melodies, you can’t help smiling and feeling a wave of enthusiasm. I kept thinking of characters from those old Ealing comedies, who continually battled a world that was set against them and who always triumphed in the end. Perhaps that is the hope of the sceptic in Lowther – that despite every silver lining being surrounded by a big black cloud, there is still the silver lining to keep looking for. You hope that the late Pete Saberton (for whom Pete Hurt composed the closing piece, called simply ‘For Pete’) would be looking on from his own silver lining somewhere.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
