OIR - Till You Switch Off the Lights
Noir 0644221935347
Kris Spiteri: piano, keyboards and vocoder; Edward Ellul: bass; Alex Debono: drums, percussion.
The very idea of a Maltese jazz trio has an exotic feel to it; it shouldn’t, of course, particularly as the Malta Jazz Festival has very long (25 year) history. This trio made its debut at the 2006 Malta Jazz Festival and have since played at many international concerts. Of course, we ought to expect to jazz to be played anywhere, but there is something in the idea that a small island would have the space and inclination to produce a band with ambitions as big as Noir. The trio is nominally led by pianist Spiteri and he introduces the primary themes for each piece. These themes are often sly quotes from other tunes; some of which are obvious like the use of All of Me in the track ‘None of Me’ (track 4), while other are more heavily disguised. For example, I thought I could make out Autumn Leaves somewhere in ‘Longing’ (track 2). Some of the pieces have a husky-voiced reading of a poem mixed into their beginning or end, lending a film noir quality to these pieces. The readings are by Immanuel Mifsud reading his own poems (translations of which are included in the CD cover). This sense of celebrating film noir is apparent in photographs on the CD cover (from Anglo-Lebanese artist Sean Mackaoui) which capture the glamour of the Mediterranean in the 1950s, but also in the cinematic sweep of the tunes themselves.
As the piano theme (played on acoustic or electric piano) builds, the bass and drum kick the piece to deeper grooves, but the strong piano lead continues to drive the music. The trio is never far from a jazz-funk workout, but continually pulls itself back in to the gentler waters of the solo piano which Spiteri plays with a classical touch throughout the slower sections. Several of the pieces could easily have featured in the closing credits of a Hollywood film, perhaps ones from the late 80’s given the palette of sounds here, but still building to satisfying and heady mixtures. Here is a trio that will continue to grace international stages and would be great to catch live.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Noir 0644221935347
Kris Spiteri: piano, keyboards and vocoder; Edward Ellul: bass; Alex Debono: drums, percussion.
The very idea of a Maltese jazz trio has an exotic feel to it; it shouldn’t, of course, particularly as the Malta Jazz Festival has very long (25 year) history. This trio made its debut at the 2006 Malta Jazz Festival and have since played at many international concerts. Of course, we ought to expect to jazz to be played anywhere, but there is something in the idea that a small island would have the space and inclination to produce a band with ambitions as big as Noir. The trio is nominally led by pianist Spiteri and he introduces the primary themes for each piece. These themes are often sly quotes from other tunes; some of which are obvious like the use of All of Me in the track ‘None of Me’ (track 4), while other are more heavily disguised. For example, I thought I could make out Autumn Leaves somewhere in ‘Longing’ (track 2). Some of the pieces have a husky-voiced reading of a poem mixed into their beginning or end, lending a film noir quality to these pieces. The readings are by Immanuel Mifsud reading his own poems (translations of which are included in the CD cover). This sense of celebrating film noir is apparent in photographs on the CD cover (from Anglo-Lebanese artist Sean Mackaoui) which capture the glamour of the Mediterranean in the 1950s, but also in the cinematic sweep of the tunes themselves.
As the piano theme (played on acoustic or electric piano) builds, the bass and drum kick the piece to deeper grooves, but the strong piano lead continues to drive the music. The trio is never far from a jazz-funk workout, but continually pulls itself back in to the gentler waters of the solo piano which Spiteri plays with a classical touch throughout the slower sections. Several of the pieces could easily have featured in the closing credits of a Hollywood film, perhaps ones from the late 80’s given the palette of sounds here, but still building to satisfying and heady mixtures. Here is a trio that will continue to grace international stages and would be great to catch live.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
