LUKE BAINBRIDGE - Surface Tension
Self Release
Kieran McLeod – trombone; Ralph Wyld – vibraphone; Huw V Williams – bass; Luke Bainbridge – drums
Recorded at ‘The Shed’, Bainbridge’s own studio at his home in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England
Luke Bainbridge is a highly qualified music educator, as well as a very active composer and drummer who has earned serious commendation for his work in contemporary classical music (2017 Compass Composition Prize in association with BCMG - Birmingham Contemporary Music Group) and in the jazz arena – (2018 Dankworth Prize for Jazz Composition). Bainbridge has alluded to influences as widely ranging as Bela Bartók (1881–1945) and James Brown (1933–2006).
Surface Tension is actually a project that was conceived in 2017. It was written as a contemporary, classical-chamber-music piece written for the BCMG and became band name and the title of this album.
The quality of the performance from each of the musicians is quite outstanding, due in part to the high levels of their intercommunication and collaboration. The rhythm section is particularly exemplary, its probing ideas bringing additional variety to the unusual configuration. The trombone and especially the vibraphone also bring their rhythmical annotations to the fore, so the quartet as a whole presents a more closely and firmly-integrated face than one might expect from the unfamiliar instrumentation. Bainbridge’s arrangements have also played a large part in managing a fluctuating, multifaceted slant to the rhythmic framework.
The album, short as it is, carries an individual, distinct and identifiable voice and it has to be that of Luke Bainbridge. The ensemble interchanges and their locked-in rhythms provide all of the interest: sadly, the tuneful stuff doesn’t get off the ground.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Self Release
Kieran McLeod – trombone; Ralph Wyld – vibraphone; Huw V Williams – bass; Luke Bainbridge – drums
Recorded at ‘The Shed’, Bainbridge’s own studio at his home in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England
Luke Bainbridge is a highly qualified music educator, as well as a very active composer and drummer who has earned serious commendation for his work in contemporary classical music (2017 Compass Composition Prize in association with BCMG - Birmingham Contemporary Music Group) and in the jazz arena – (2018 Dankworth Prize for Jazz Composition). Bainbridge has alluded to influences as widely ranging as Bela Bartók (1881–1945) and James Brown (1933–2006).
Surface Tension is actually a project that was conceived in 2017. It was written as a contemporary, classical-chamber-music piece written for the BCMG and became band name and the title of this album.
The quality of the performance from each of the musicians is quite outstanding, due in part to the high levels of their intercommunication and collaboration. The rhythm section is particularly exemplary, its probing ideas bringing additional variety to the unusual configuration. The trombone and especially the vibraphone also bring their rhythmical annotations to the fore, so the quartet as a whole presents a more closely and firmly-integrated face than one might expect from the unfamiliar instrumentation. Bainbridge’s arrangements have also played a large part in managing a fluctuating, multifaceted slant to the rhythmic framework.
The album, short as it is, carries an individual, distinct and identifiable voice and it has to be that of Luke Bainbridge. The ensemble interchanges and their locked-in rhythms provide all of the interest: sadly, the tuneful stuff doesn’t get off the ground.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
