THE DISSOLUTE SOCIETY - Soldiering On
Babel: BDV16145
Fini Bearman: voice; Naomi Burrell: violin; Zosia Jagodzinska: cello; Gustav Clarkson: viola; Laura Jurd: trumpet; Raph Clarkson: trombone, vocals; Phil Merriman: keys, synth bass; Simon Roth: drums; Huw Warren: piano; Mia Marlen Berg: vocals,fx; Joshua Idehen: rap vocals; Mike Soper: trumpet.
Produced by Liran Doni
I first came across the richly varied and exuberant trombone playing on Raph Clarkson from his work with WorldService Project (who play anarchic punk-jazz of the highest order), but he also plays with Elliot Galvin, the Equal Spirits UK-South African jazz ensemble, and in a swing band. So, as a musician, he covers a lot of bases. This ensemble was formed by Clarkson to develop his explorations of the mixture of trombone and voice within the context of a wider range of instrumentation. In terms of voice, there is spoken word and singing, and some mid-ground ‘sung-speech’ where the rhythms of poetry and rap are modulated by the musical settings around them. These musical settings have, as you might expect, a broadly avant-garde feeling to them, creating richly textured combinations of musical styles that call on contemporary orchestral music, modern jazz and folk.
Clarkson’s compositions create plenty of space for the musicians to develop their own lines, and with players of Warren or Jurd’s ability, there is plenty of development to hear. Clarkson also has his father playing some elegant viola on several tracks. In addition to the compositions of Clarkson and Taylor, Kenny Wheeler’s ‘Kind Folk’ (track 6) showcases some fine singing and a cool jazz groove from the rhythm section, with elegant horn playing.
The vocalisations provide a lyrical content that creates themes and provides commentary on the music, although it is equally true to invert this and say that the music comments on the words. The words cover personal reflections, recollections and family stories used to illustrate a broad theme of coping with adversity, with stories of his mother, who passed away at the age of only 50, and his German-Jewish grandmother who lived in Palestine. The title track of this collection is a piece by John Taylor (Clarkson’s tutor at York, and a fine musician in his own right) who is one of the dedicatees of the album, with track 5 ‘For JT’. The other dedicatee is Micaela Comberti, Clarkson’s mother, who championed British Early Music through her violin playing, particularly with the English Concert, ex Cathedra and St James Baroque Players. I think that the ‘folk’ influences one hears in some of the pieces might be better thought of as a nod to the tunings of the music that she played.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
Babel: BDV16145
Fini Bearman: voice; Naomi Burrell: violin; Zosia Jagodzinska: cello; Gustav Clarkson: viola; Laura Jurd: trumpet; Raph Clarkson: trombone, vocals; Phil Merriman: keys, synth bass; Simon Roth: drums; Huw Warren: piano; Mia Marlen Berg: vocals,fx; Joshua Idehen: rap vocals; Mike Soper: trumpet.
Produced by Liran Doni
I first came across the richly varied and exuberant trombone playing on Raph Clarkson from his work with WorldService Project (who play anarchic punk-jazz of the highest order), but he also plays with Elliot Galvin, the Equal Spirits UK-South African jazz ensemble, and in a swing band. So, as a musician, he covers a lot of bases. This ensemble was formed by Clarkson to develop his explorations of the mixture of trombone and voice within the context of a wider range of instrumentation. In terms of voice, there is spoken word and singing, and some mid-ground ‘sung-speech’ where the rhythms of poetry and rap are modulated by the musical settings around them. These musical settings have, as you might expect, a broadly avant-garde feeling to them, creating richly textured combinations of musical styles that call on contemporary orchestral music, modern jazz and folk.
Clarkson’s compositions create plenty of space for the musicians to develop their own lines, and with players of Warren or Jurd’s ability, there is plenty of development to hear. Clarkson also has his father playing some elegant viola on several tracks. In addition to the compositions of Clarkson and Taylor, Kenny Wheeler’s ‘Kind Folk’ (track 6) showcases some fine singing and a cool jazz groove from the rhythm section, with elegant horn playing.
The vocalisations provide a lyrical content that creates themes and provides commentary on the music, although it is equally true to invert this and say that the music comments on the words. The words cover personal reflections, recollections and family stories used to illustrate a broad theme of coping with adversity, with stories of his mother, who passed away at the age of only 50, and his German-Jewish grandmother who lived in Palestine. The title track of this collection is a piece by John Taylor (Clarkson’s tutor at York, and a fine musician in his own right) who is one of the dedicatees of the album, with track 5 ‘For JT’. The other dedicatee is Micaela Comberti, Clarkson’s mother, who championed British Early Music through her violin playing, particularly with the English Concert, ex Cathedra and St James Baroque Players. I think that the ‘folk’ influences one hears in some of the pieces might be better thought of as a nod to the tunings of the music that she played.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
