JOSHUA CAVANAGH-BRIERLEY - Joy In Bewilderment
Ubuntu Music: UBU0084CD
Gavin Hibberd: Trumpet; Sam Healey: Alto Sax; Kyran Matthews: Tenor Sax; Chris Potter: Tenor Sax; Anthony Brown: Baritone Sax; Ellie Whitley: Tenor Trombone; Rich Mcveigh: Tenor Trombone, Bass Trombone; Caoilfhionn Rose Birley: Vocals; Daniel Brew: Guitar; Daniel Wellens: Piano & Keys; Joshua Cavanagh-Brierley: Bass, Double Bass, Piano; Alan Taylor: Drums; Grant Kershaw: Drums; Craig Hanson: Drums
The Amika Quartet - Simmy Singh: Violin; Laura Senior: Violin; Lucy Nolan: Viola; Peggy Nolan: Cello
Recorded On 2nd February 2018 By Joseph Reiser At Low Four Studios In Manchester, UK.
Newly signed to Ubuntu, this is Cavanagh-Brierley’s third outing and confirms that he is a composer of striking versatility, and bass player with a wicked groove. Each composition on this beautifully realised album crackles with inventiveness and stakes out new territories, any one of which would be an impressive calling-card in itself. That Cavanagh-Brierley effortlessly crosses so many genres should not be so much of a surprise, giving his upbringing in an artistic household in Manchester. On tracks like ‘I’ll do as I please’, track 3, he conveys a Mancunian swagger in a confident, life-affirming funk that melts into a gentle saxophone solo before bouncing back, driven by his complex electric bass licks. Just as the funk boils over, the music is pulled back to a gentle coda that prepares you for the next track. ‘Forbidden Words’, track 4, like the opening title track, showcases an approach to arranging and orchestration that captures the rich harmonies of the instruments for which he scores. ‘Joy in Bewilderment’, played by the Amika Quartet, has a filmic quality that called to mind (for me at least) those live-action Nature films of the 1970s (the scores, for Disney, were usually composed by Paul Smith for full orchestra) – where mild peril was an ever-present part of life in the wild, but the cunning animals always pulled through. While this is not the explanation he gives, which is more about the ways that modern society and the attitudes the people can express can be puzzling and exasperating, there is, something of this hope and optimism that those old wildlife films conveyed. Returning to ‘Forbidden Words’, Caoilfhionn Rose Birley’s vocals have a dreamlike quality that draws the listening in before the sax solo explodes. This is one of three pieces where the ensemble (12 or 13 strong) makes full use of the three drummers. Again, the musical arc of the piece is one of steadily increasing tempo and then gradual diminution, fading to a solo piano. This then leads to Cavanagh-Brierley’s solo piano on ‘Attachment’. This piece captures the emotional turmoil of which Cavanagh-Brierley speaks in his description of the album, as a dialogue between hope and confusion (or joy and bewilderment). What is most compelling about the pieces on this set is not just the tremendous ensemble playing and great solos, but the ways in which Cavanagh-Brierley creates the textures and mood of a big orchestra without losing the nuance and subtly of each of the instruments, and to do so in ways that mix his rich melodic sensibility with surprising changes of direction in ways that are so deeply rewarding.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Ubuntu Music: UBU0084CD
Gavin Hibberd: Trumpet; Sam Healey: Alto Sax; Kyran Matthews: Tenor Sax; Chris Potter: Tenor Sax; Anthony Brown: Baritone Sax; Ellie Whitley: Tenor Trombone; Rich Mcveigh: Tenor Trombone, Bass Trombone; Caoilfhionn Rose Birley: Vocals; Daniel Brew: Guitar; Daniel Wellens: Piano & Keys; Joshua Cavanagh-Brierley: Bass, Double Bass, Piano; Alan Taylor: Drums; Grant Kershaw: Drums; Craig Hanson: Drums
The Amika Quartet - Simmy Singh: Violin; Laura Senior: Violin; Lucy Nolan: Viola; Peggy Nolan: Cello
Recorded On 2nd February 2018 By Joseph Reiser At Low Four Studios In Manchester, UK.
Newly signed to Ubuntu, this is Cavanagh-Brierley’s third outing and confirms that he is a composer of striking versatility, and bass player with a wicked groove. Each composition on this beautifully realised album crackles with inventiveness and stakes out new territories, any one of which would be an impressive calling-card in itself. That Cavanagh-Brierley effortlessly crosses so many genres should not be so much of a surprise, giving his upbringing in an artistic household in Manchester. On tracks like ‘I’ll do as I please’, track 3, he conveys a Mancunian swagger in a confident, life-affirming funk that melts into a gentle saxophone solo before bouncing back, driven by his complex electric bass licks. Just as the funk boils over, the music is pulled back to a gentle coda that prepares you for the next track. ‘Forbidden Words’, track 4, like the opening title track, showcases an approach to arranging and orchestration that captures the rich harmonies of the instruments for which he scores. ‘Joy in Bewilderment’, played by the Amika Quartet, has a filmic quality that called to mind (for me at least) those live-action Nature films of the 1970s (the scores, for Disney, were usually composed by Paul Smith for full orchestra) – where mild peril was an ever-present part of life in the wild, but the cunning animals always pulled through. While this is not the explanation he gives, which is more about the ways that modern society and the attitudes the people can express can be puzzling and exasperating, there is, something of this hope and optimism that those old wildlife films conveyed. Returning to ‘Forbidden Words’, Caoilfhionn Rose Birley’s vocals have a dreamlike quality that draws the listening in before the sax solo explodes. This is one of three pieces where the ensemble (12 or 13 strong) makes full use of the three drummers. Again, the musical arc of the piece is one of steadily increasing tempo and then gradual diminution, fading to a solo piano. This then leads to Cavanagh-Brierley’s solo piano on ‘Attachment’. This piece captures the emotional turmoil of which Cavanagh-Brierley speaks in his description of the album, as a dialogue between hope and confusion (or joy and bewilderment). What is most compelling about the pieces on this set is not just the tremendous ensemble playing and great solos, but the ways in which Cavanagh-Brierley creates the textures and mood of a big orchestra without losing the nuance and subtly of each of the instruments, and to do so in ways that mix his rich melodic sensibility with surprising changes of direction in ways that are so deeply rewarding.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
