JIM BLOMFIELD - Re-Energising The Piano Trio
Since moving to Bristol in the early nineties, Jim Blomfield has built a career as one of the most dynamic pianist in the area. From his early beginnings taking classical piano lessons, his playing has developed and encompasses influences arising from electronica, rock and prog-rock, along with Latin and Salsa as much as it does from the jazz tradition.
A natural improviser it was inevitable that Blomfield was drawn to the vibrant South West and is a longstanding member of both the Andy Hague Quartet and various bands led by saxophonist, Kevin Figes with whom he has toured and recorded.
In recent years, the pianist has focussed his energies on the trio format, and with his regular colleagues, bassist Roshan 'Tosh' Wijetunge and Mark Whitlam on drums has just released the second Jim Blomfield Trio album. A very personal album in many ways, and a big step forward from the trio's first album, as Jim explains to Nick Lea.
A natural improviser it was inevitable that Blomfield was drawn to the vibrant South West and is a longstanding member of both the Andy Hague Quartet and various bands led by saxophonist, Kevin Figes with whom he has toured and recorded.
In recent years, the pianist has focussed his energies on the trio format, and with his regular colleagues, bassist Roshan 'Tosh' Wijetunge and Mark Whitlam on drums has just released the second Jim Blomfield Trio album. A very personal album in many ways, and a big step forward from the trio's first album, as Jim explains to Nick Lea.
Can you tell us about your new album?
Strange Beauty (Every Way OK) is our second trio album released on musician and composer Kevin Figes’ Bristol based label Pig Records and was recorded in the beautiful and inspiring surroundings of Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios. The trio has been together with the same line up since its inception quite a few years ago and is the same personnel as is on the first album - Roshan ‘Tosh’ Wijetunge on bass, Mark Whitlam on drums and myself on piano and keyboards. Apart from my arrangement of a piece by Schumann, the pieces are all original compositions. I’m lucky that Tosh is also a producer and studio engineer as well as a bassist. We spent a considerable time on the mix, production and overall sound of the album - so there are both ‘as is’ recorded trio takes in the studio as well as compositions reworked or created during the post production process - the sound design, programming, overdubs and samples on these tracks becoming an integral part of the composition process.
I always find it hard describing the trio’s music but maybe the phrase ‘cinematic prog-jazz’ coined by Tosh is not such a bad description!
There is also a very personal connection for your with some of the music written for your sons, and your experience in helping them living with autism. Can you tell us more about this and the music you composed about this?
I have two autistic non-verbal sons (now 20 and 18) on the severe end of the autistic spectrum. To say nothing can prepare you for this experience as a parent is an understatement - at times it has been a desperate experience of just about holding on to any semblance of sense, order or sanity, but ultimately it has been an amazing deeply transforming experience too. My journey of living with autism so viscerally has definitely inspired me creatively - both in composition and in my playing. To quote the liner notes I wrote for the album as it sums it all up pretty well; “Autism burst into my life like a kaleidoscopic torrent of chaotic, fascinating, unfathomable, messy, isolating, disturbing ‘Strange Beauty’ - inevitably all these complex and emotional layers have informed much of the music on this album. Perhaps in retrospect, there was an unacknowledged desire to give my non-verbal sons a ‘voice’ in my music and, in the world of autism which often feels isolating for both the person with the condition and parent alike, feel a shared connection through making my sons part of the creative process”.
I actually included some recordings I’d made of my son’s vocalisations throughout the years on a couple of the tracks. One piece ‘Mellow Drama’ which is a tune loosely about trying to stay calm and centred in the crazy off-kilter world of autism and containing lots of shifts of mood and texture, seemed more poignant to me with the inclusion of some of those recordings. I felt quite emotional when I heard the sounds pieced together with the initial recording in the production process - it felt somehow heart breaking but beautiful at the same time, and that resonance is pretty much how my journey with autism has felt.
Strange Beauty (Every Way OK) is our second trio album released on musician and composer Kevin Figes’ Bristol based label Pig Records and was recorded in the beautiful and inspiring surroundings of Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios. The trio has been together with the same line up since its inception quite a few years ago and is the same personnel as is on the first album - Roshan ‘Tosh’ Wijetunge on bass, Mark Whitlam on drums and myself on piano and keyboards. Apart from my arrangement of a piece by Schumann, the pieces are all original compositions. I’m lucky that Tosh is also a producer and studio engineer as well as a bassist. We spent a considerable time on the mix, production and overall sound of the album - so there are both ‘as is’ recorded trio takes in the studio as well as compositions reworked or created during the post production process - the sound design, programming, overdubs and samples on these tracks becoming an integral part of the composition process.
I always find it hard describing the trio’s music but maybe the phrase ‘cinematic prog-jazz’ coined by Tosh is not such a bad description!
There is also a very personal connection for your with some of the music written for your sons, and your experience in helping them living with autism. Can you tell us more about this and the music you composed about this?
I have two autistic non-verbal sons (now 20 and 18) on the severe end of the autistic spectrum. To say nothing can prepare you for this experience as a parent is an understatement - at times it has been a desperate experience of just about holding on to any semblance of sense, order or sanity, but ultimately it has been an amazing deeply transforming experience too. My journey of living with autism so viscerally has definitely inspired me creatively - both in composition and in my playing. To quote the liner notes I wrote for the album as it sums it all up pretty well; “Autism burst into my life like a kaleidoscopic torrent of chaotic, fascinating, unfathomable, messy, isolating, disturbing ‘Strange Beauty’ - inevitably all these complex and emotional layers have informed much of the music on this album. Perhaps in retrospect, there was an unacknowledged desire to give my non-verbal sons a ‘voice’ in my music and, in the world of autism which often feels isolating for both the person with the condition and parent alike, feel a shared connection through making my sons part of the creative process”.
I actually included some recordings I’d made of my son’s vocalisations throughout the years on a couple of the tracks. One piece ‘Mellow Drama’ which is a tune loosely about trying to stay calm and centred in the crazy off-kilter world of autism and containing lots of shifts of mood and texture, seemed more poignant to me with the inclusion of some of those recordings. I felt quite emotional when I heard the sounds pieced together with the initial recording in the production process - it felt somehow heart breaking but beautiful at the same time, and that resonance is pretty much how my journey with autism has felt.
For this, your second album with the trio, you have expanded the acoustic sound of the band to include the use of synthesiser, electronic effects and loops within the fabric of the music. What influenced you to bring this new dimension to the trio, and does it feel like a natural progression of the work begun on your debut album, Waveforms And Sea Changes?
I have been interested for quite a while in electronic music and experimenting with the textures and unique sounds that can be created within computer based programmes or synthesiser hardware. I collected a lot of music on the Warp Record label (sometimes referred to as so called ‘Intelligent Dance Music’) and loved the sound worlds, interesting beats and the sometimes unearthly dimensions that I felt transported to when I listened to such music. Considering those interests (and the fact I invested in an awesome old school style Prophet 6 synthesiser!), the desire to include a bit of electronic music influence and more post production work within the context of the trio seemed to be an inevitable progression from our first album, bringing another sonic dimension to the trio.
Your writing for the trio is very distinctive and original. Where do you draw your influences from when composing?
I’m very happy as a composer to have my music described as ‘distinctive and original’! I don’t consciously set out to try and compose in any particular style and think my writing is an amalgamation of many different musical influences as well as being informed more indefinably by my personal life experiences. But certainly I have been influenced by stuff I’ve listened to a lot over the years - rock and prog-rock, latin, classical and electronic music as much as music from the jazz legacy. Over the years I’ve developed my style by trial and error and just writing and arranging for many different musical projects - out of this I’ve gained an ear for what does or doesn’t work and how to develop ideas into interesting compositions and musical structures. What was interesting for me on the new album was including a few pieces that were created and edited in software and using sound design as a compositional tool in itself, alongside my more usual method of working on pieces and writing them down in conventional music notation. One of my influences on the electronic music side of things are Scottish duo Boards of Canada whose mastery in creating atmospheric sound worlds, sometimes of very short duration, I have always loved.
You also feature a piece by Robert Schumann, a classical piece that harks back back to your early studies. Why did you include this piece, and how have you re-worked this piece for the trio?
The piano piece you refer to is called Intermezzo (one of a suite of five pieces) that I always loved and notated as jazz harmony many years ago. I always found the harmony challenging to solo over and it took until now before I felt I could have a go at recording it. The original is fast and fiery, whereas in this context I slowed the tempo right down, feeling that the beautiful tune and rich harmonies worked really well in a jazz ballad context.
I have been interested for quite a while in electronic music and experimenting with the textures and unique sounds that can be created within computer based programmes or synthesiser hardware. I collected a lot of music on the Warp Record label (sometimes referred to as so called ‘Intelligent Dance Music’) and loved the sound worlds, interesting beats and the sometimes unearthly dimensions that I felt transported to when I listened to such music. Considering those interests (and the fact I invested in an awesome old school style Prophet 6 synthesiser!), the desire to include a bit of electronic music influence and more post production work within the context of the trio seemed to be an inevitable progression from our first album, bringing another sonic dimension to the trio.
Your writing for the trio is very distinctive and original. Where do you draw your influences from when composing?
I’m very happy as a composer to have my music described as ‘distinctive and original’! I don’t consciously set out to try and compose in any particular style and think my writing is an amalgamation of many different musical influences as well as being informed more indefinably by my personal life experiences. But certainly I have been influenced by stuff I’ve listened to a lot over the years - rock and prog-rock, latin, classical and electronic music as much as music from the jazz legacy. Over the years I’ve developed my style by trial and error and just writing and arranging for many different musical projects - out of this I’ve gained an ear for what does or doesn’t work and how to develop ideas into interesting compositions and musical structures. What was interesting for me on the new album was including a few pieces that were created and edited in software and using sound design as a compositional tool in itself, alongside my more usual method of working on pieces and writing them down in conventional music notation. One of my influences on the electronic music side of things are Scottish duo Boards of Canada whose mastery in creating atmospheric sound worlds, sometimes of very short duration, I have always loved.
You also feature a piece by Robert Schumann, a classical piece that harks back back to your early studies. Why did you include this piece, and how have you re-worked this piece for the trio?
The piano piece you refer to is called Intermezzo (one of a suite of five pieces) that I always loved and notated as jazz harmony many years ago. I always found the harmony challenging to solo over and it took until now before I felt I could have a go at recording it. The original is fast and fiery, whereas in this context I slowed the tempo right down, feeling that the beautiful tune and rich harmonies worked really well in a jazz ballad context.
Are there are any particular musicians who have influenced you along your journey?
My first jazz influence was Keith Jarrett - I came to jazz quite late and someone gave me the Koln Concert and Changes on cassette. Those two albums really opened up my ears to new possibilities - before that I was more familiar with classical and rock music. Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and McCoy Tyner are big influences among many others. I have an affinity with Latin piano styles and Eddie Palmieri is one of my heroes in particular. I suppose my biggest influence of more recent times is Brad Mehldau - an amazingly creative musician who for me has a perfect combination of effortless technique and mastery of the keyboard together with sublime phrasing and a compelling emotional intensity. I’m always taken on an interesting musical journey whenever I listen to any of Mehldau’s diverse albums. I’m also a big fan of King Crimson and Radiohead (in fact it was Mehldau who turned me on to Radiohead with his sublime version of their ‘Exit Music for a Film’ on ‘Art of the Trio Volume 4’). I also love electronic artists such as Aphex Twin, Squarepusher and Autechre.
Can you tell us about some of the other bands and projects that your are also involved with?
I’m in many diverse projects but two of the bands I’m in date back to the early nineties - Andy Hague Quintet and Kevin Figes Quartet. It’s nice to have played in these bands for such a long time and build up a group rapport both musically and personally with the same core musicians. With trumpeter Andy Hague we have recently being doing quite a few dates promoting his new album ‘Coming of Age’. I have always enjoyed working on and playing on saxophonist Kevin Figes’ often complex music. I’m excited that we are going to record his latest music, which requires me to play more electric sounds and is quite jazz rock influenced and experimental at times, in the legendary Rockfield studios later this year. I’m also quite a mainstay of quite a few Bristol Latin and Salsa projects (big band ‘Dockside Latin Orchestra’ and ‘Bristol Salsa Orchestra’ are two examples) and have always loved the rhythmic groove and energy in the piano style at the heart of these genres. I like the way it can get people dancing but as a pianist you are also allowed to go a bit nuts during your solos!
I guess that the trio is your main priority and focus, what next for the group and how do you see the music developing?
Although currently I’m still promoting and playing the material from the new album on gigs, I’m starting to write for the next one. The process that seems to work best is to gradually introduce new compositions into the trio set and try them out and develop them both live and in rehearsal. It’s great working with my trio compatriots Tosh and Mark as their creative input and feedback plays a big part in shaping the overall trio sound. I’m imagining that the next album might develop the electronic and sound design side of things further as all three of us are into using music technology alongside conventional instrumentation. Generally I would like to get my music more ‘out there’ - one way I intend to do this is by exploring developing more video content as I’m excited by the potential of creating interesting imagery alongside the music.
My first jazz influence was Keith Jarrett - I came to jazz quite late and someone gave me the Koln Concert and Changes on cassette. Those two albums really opened up my ears to new possibilities - before that I was more familiar with classical and rock music. Herbie Hancock, Chick Corea and McCoy Tyner are big influences among many others. I have an affinity with Latin piano styles and Eddie Palmieri is one of my heroes in particular. I suppose my biggest influence of more recent times is Brad Mehldau - an amazingly creative musician who for me has a perfect combination of effortless technique and mastery of the keyboard together with sublime phrasing and a compelling emotional intensity. I’m always taken on an interesting musical journey whenever I listen to any of Mehldau’s diverse albums. I’m also a big fan of King Crimson and Radiohead (in fact it was Mehldau who turned me on to Radiohead with his sublime version of their ‘Exit Music for a Film’ on ‘Art of the Trio Volume 4’). I also love electronic artists such as Aphex Twin, Squarepusher and Autechre.
Can you tell us about some of the other bands and projects that your are also involved with?
I’m in many diverse projects but two of the bands I’m in date back to the early nineties - Andy Hague Quintet and Kevin Figes Quartet. It’s nice to have played in these bands for such a long time and build up a group rapport both musically and personally with the same core musicians. With trumpeter Andy Hague we have recently being doing quite a few dates promoting his new album ‘Coming of Age’. I have always enjoyed working on and playing on saxophonist Kevin Figes’ often complex music. I’m excited that we are going to record his latest music, which requires me to play more electric sounds and is quite jazz rock influenced and experimental at times, in the legendary Rockfield studios later this year. I’m also quite a mainstay of quite a few Bristol Latin and Salsa projects (big band ‘Dockside Latin Orchestra’ and ‘Bristol Salsa Orchestra’ are two examples) and have always loved the rhythmic groove and energy in the piano style at the heart of these genres. I like the way it can get people dancing but as a pianist you are also allowed to go a bit nuts during your solos!
I guess that the trio is your main priority and focus, what next for the group and how do you see the music developing?
Although currently I’m still promoting and playing the material from the new album on gigs, I’m starting to write for the next one. The process that seems to work best is to gradually introduce new compositions into the trio set and try them out and develop them both live and in rehearsal. It’s great working with my trio compatriots Tosh and Mark as their creative input and feedback plays a big part in shaping the overall trio sound. I’m imagining that the next album might develop the electronic and sound design side of things further as all three of us are into using music technology alongside conventional instrumentation. Generally I would like to get my music more ‘out there’ - one way I intend to do this is by exploring developing more video content as I’m excited by the potential of creating interesting imagery alongside the music.
For more information visit Jim Blomfield's website.
Strange Beauty (Every Way Ok) & Wave Forms And Sea Changes are available from the Jazz Views Shop
Strange Beauty (Every Way Ok) & Wave Forms And Sea Changes are available from the Jazz Views Shop
Click on the album cover to read our review
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Albums available from the Jazz Views Shop
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