NEIL COWLEY TRIO - SPACEBOUND APES
Saturday 4th March CBSO Centre, Birmingham
Saturday 4th March CBSO Centre, Birmingham
In Birmingham’s CBSO Centre (the acoustically balanced space in which the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra rehearse) a packed audience sat on bleachers waiting for the sound mixer to stop playing London Grammar and the concert to start. Just after 8pm, the MC announced ‘the Neil Cowley Trio’ and, to the applause of the audience, four people walked onto the stage. It is part of the teasing relationship that Cowley and his antipodean brothers in arms (Rex Horan on bass and Evan Jenkins on drums) have with the straight jazz world, that this additional person is not acknowledged nor the relaxation of the term ‘trio’ commented upon. The 4th Man, to give him a name, took on the responsibility of drenching the trio’s sound in the electronic wash that sweeps their Spacebound Apes concept album. The first half of the set involved the entire hour or so of this CD (one of the best releases of last year). What would have made this an even better experience would be to have had Sergio Sandoval’s stunning images projected above the band as they played the set. Anyone planning to see them on their tour might want to visit www.spaceboundapes.com prior to the gig (perhaps playing this discretely with the sound off as they play?).
The overall effect of Spacebound Apes live is of quiet-loud (to use the phrase that rock band The Pixies coined for their), ranging from the tranquil ‘Grace’ to the motoric rhythms of ‘The City and the Stars’ or ‘Sharks of Competition’. Indeed, the drumming and electronica moved beyond jazz into something that felt more like Can or Faust, further provoking the jazzers. The mood of the pieces was enhanced by the use of electronic keyboards by Cowley and Horan. When he spoke to the audience, Cowley self-deprecatingly said that they would play the whole of Spacebound Apes and then their ‘hits’ – omitting to note that ‘Grace’ has taken on a life of its own outside the album and outside jazz playlists.
After the interval, they came back on stage as a trio of only three players, and proved what a superb jazz group they are. Horan was positioned centre stage and, freed from the synthesiser that kept him in one spot during the first half, played the double bass with panache and all manner of ‘guitar hero’ poses; at times almost pulling the bass on top of himself, at other times conducting the others with his impressive beard. His playing, bowed and plucked, was stunning and the mix (and acoustics) really brought out the interplay between bass, drums and piano. In the second half too Jenkins shifted from the driving beats of Spacebound Apes into a looser, polyrhythmic swing. Indeed, while the first half was as much rocky electronic as jazz, the second half was a straight-ahead jazz gig. The ‘hits’ (that I recognised) came from ‘Displaced’, ‘Loud…Louder…Stop’ and ‘Radio Silence’ and drew the audience to increasing levels of enthusiasm. The set closed with ‘His Nibs’ which is the tune that Cowley and a version of the trio played on the Jools Holland show back in 2008. The band left the stage to the warm applause of the audience, which increased in clapping, whistling and foot-stomping until Cowley lead them back on for an encore. The encore, which Cowley introduced as a piece which kept his chiropractor in business, was ‘She Eats Flies’, from ‘Displaced’ and builds from a sort of post-bop, rhythmic interchange to an ever more intense and driving tune. The piece featured an extended bass solo from Horan that had the audience spell-bound. Across this second half, the fast pace of the switches in solo from bass to piano to drums, and the way the pieces build in intensity and then dropping to quieter moments made in difficult to know when (or if) to clap the soloists, and each piece ploughed on to a point when the music either stopped or Horan or Cowley looked at the audience – so we knew when to applaud. In structure, Neil Cowley’s pieces owe more to contemporary pop and rock than traditional jazz, but any music played with the passion and honesty with which they approached their work this evening is definitely worth hearing.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
The overall effect of Spacebound Apes live is of quiet-loud (to use the phrase that rock band The Pixies coined for their), ranging from the tranquil ‘Grace’ to the motoric rhythms of ‘The City and the Stars’ or ‘Sharks of Competition’. Indeed, the drumming and electronica moved beyond jazz into something that felt more like Can or Faust, further provoking the jazzers. The mood of the pieces was enhanced by the use of electronic keyboards by Cowley and Horan. When he spoke to the audience, Cowley self-deprecatingly said that they would play the whole of Spacebound Apes and then their ‘hits’ – omitting to note that ‘Grace’ has taken on a life of its own outside the album and outside jazz playlists.
After the interval, they came back on stage as a trio of only three players, and proved what a superb jazz group they are. Horan was positioned centre stage and, freed from the synthesiser that kept him in one spot during the first half, played the double bass with panache and all manner of ‘guitar hero’ poses; at times almost pulling the bass on top of himself, at other times conducting the others with his impressive beard. His playing, bowed and plucked, was stunning and the mix (and acoustics) really brought out the interplay between bass, drums and piano. In the second half too Jenkins shifted from the driving beats of Spacebound Apes into a looser, polyrhythmic swing. Indeed, while the first half was as much rocky electronic as jazz, the second half was a straight-ahead jazz gig. The ‘hits’ (that I recognised) came from ‘Displaced’, ‘Loud…Louder…Stop’ and ‘Radio Silence’ and drew the audience to increasing levels of enthusiasm. The set closed with ‘His Nibs’ which is the tune that Cowley and a version of the trio played on the Jools Holland show back in 2008. The band left the stage to the warm applause of the audience, which increased in clapping, whistling and foot-stomping until Cowley lead them back on for an encore. The encore, which Cowley introduced as a piece which kept his chiropractor in business, was ‘She Eats Flies’, from ‘Displaced’ and builds from a sort of post-bop, rhythmic interchange to an ever more intense and driving tune. The piece featured an extended bass solo from Horan that had the audience spell-bound. Across this second half, the fast pace of the switches in solo from bass to piano to drums, and the way the pieces build in intensity and then dropping to quieter moments made in difficult to know when (or if) to clap the soloists, and each piece ploughed on to a point when the music either stopped or Horan or Cowley looked at the audience – so we knew when to applaud. In structure, Neil Cowley’s pieces owe more to contemporary pop and rock than traditional jazz, but any music played with the passion and honesty with which they approached their work this evening is definitely worth hearing.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
