KEVIN FIGES - Wallpaper Music
Pig Records PIG11
Kevin Figes - alto sax, flute; Brigitte Beraha - vocals; Jim Blomfield - keyboards; Ashley John Long - bass; Mark Whitlam - percussion
The UK jazz scene underwent some fascinating mutations from the late 60s onwards as a new generation of players started to redraw the boundaries of the music. Freed from subservience to the declining bop idiom and rejecting the hegemonic influence of the USA (often from political as much as artistic motivations), they drew inspiration from such diverse sources as the homegrown prog rock scene and the European avante-garde to develop a sound that was very distinctive, if hard to categorise. Kevin Figes was taught by Elton Dean, the Soft Machine saxophonist whose recorded legacy typifies the free-wheeling, no-boundaries approach of that generation, and this album reframes their unique sound for 2021. There are proggy, twisty unison passages, (as on opener ‘More Equal Than Others’), odd time signatures aplenty and some lovely textural work from Figes’ full-toned flute and Jim Blomfield’s array of vintage-sounding keyboards, and Figes’ writing for the well balanced band is constantly full of surprises. But the dominant voice throughout is Brigitte Beraha’s - deploying the full range of her formidable technique she goes from Art Bears or Henry Cow style pastoralism to Ivor Cutler whimsicality to free-improv squeals and whispers, often all in the same tune. There are echoes of Zappa in his 1960s Mothers period but the overall sound is very much from the British arm of the European progressive movement: this unique record is packed with character and imagination and effectively reframes a fascinating musical legacy for the 21st century.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
Pig Records PIG11
Kevin Figes - alto sax, flute; Brigitte Beraha - vocals; Jim Blomfield - keyboards; Ashley John Long - bass; Mark Whitlam - percussion
The UK jazz scene underwent some fascinating mutations from the late 60s onwards as a new generation of players started to redraw the boundaries of the music. Freed from subservience to the declining bop idiom and rejecting the hegemonic influence of the USA (often from political as much as artistic motivations), they drew inspiration from such diverse sources as the homegrown prog rock scene and the European avante-garde to develop a sound that was very distinctive, if hard to categorise. Kevin Figes was taught by Elton Dean, the Soft Machine saxophonist whose recorded legacy typifies the free-wheeling, no-boundaries approach of that generation, and this album reframes their unique sound for 2021. There are proggy, twisty unison passages, (as on opener ‘More Equal Than Others’), odd time signatures aplenty and some lovely textural work from Figes’ full-toned flute and Jim Blomfield’s array of vintage-sounding keyboards, and Figes’ writing for the well balanced band is constantly full of surprises. But the dominant voice throughout is Brigitte Beraha’s - deploying the full range of her formidable technique she goes from Art Bears or Henry Cow style pastoralism to Ivor Cutler whimsicality to free-improv squeals and whispers, often all in the same tune. There are echoes of Zappa in his 1960s Mothers period but the overall sound is very much from the British arm of the European progressive movement: this unique record is packed with character and imagination and effectively reframes a fascinating musical legacy for the 21st century.
Reviewed by Eddie Myer
