THE SPRIT FARM
Slam Records SLAMCD 299
Adam Fairhall: grand piano, prepared Hohner Pianet T, prepared toy piano, Indian harmonium; Christophe de Bezenac, tenor saxophone; Anton Hunter, electric guitar; Johnny Hunter, drums; Dave Kane, double bass; Corey Mwamba, vibraphone, glockenspiel, dulcimer, wooden flute.
‘The Spirit Farm’ is both the group and album name. The Hohner Pianet T is a vintage, electric instrument.
Recorded live at Axis Arts Centre, Manchester Metropolitan University, Cheshire, March 5th 2014
Adam Fairhall has been described as “ – a rising star of the piano” in BBC Radio 3’s Jazz Line-Up and he demonstrates the legitimacy of that portrayal in this fascinating recording of free improv. It’s a parsec or two on from his teenager’s roots in blues and boogie, but it remains in this galaxy by dint of his idiosyncratic piano style, whose multiplicity of expression seems drawn from the entire gamut of manners throughout jazz history. Earlier jazz forms are summoned and presented in alternative conceptions, often with humour, always with passion.
These are the marks of a true artist and that is echoed in another work, The Imaginary Delta, commissioned by the Manchester Literature Festival of 2014. Poet Jackie Kaye uses her poetry about Bessie Smith, illustrated and supported by Adam Fairhall’s visualizations of her songs to produce an unruly medley evocative of the Tennessee Delta. It’s an accomplished and talented work.
The Spirit Farm exhibits exceptional latitude in its fertile revelations, both ingenious and resourceful, and the improvisation is unbounded.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
Slam Records SLAMCD 299
Adam Fairhall: grand piano, prepared Hohner Pianet T, prepared toy piano, Indian harmonium; Christophe de Bezenac, tenor saxophone; Anton Hunter, electric guitar; Johnny Hunter, drums; Dave Kane, double bass; Corey Mwamba, vibraphone, glockenspiel, dulcimer, wooden flute.
‘The Spirit Farm’ is both the group and album name. The Hohner Pianet T is a vintage, electric instrument.
Recorded live at Axis Arts Centre, Manchester Metropolitan University, Cheshire, March 5th 2014
Adam Fairhall has been described as “ – a rising star of the piano” in BBC Radio 3’s Jazz Line-Up and he demonstrates the legitimacy of that portrayal in this fascinating recording of free improv. It’s a parsec or two on from his teenager’s roots in blues and boogie, but it remains in this galaxy by dint of his idiosyncratic piano style, whose multiplicity of expression seems drawn from the entire gamut of manners throughout jazz history. Earlier jazz forms are summoned and presented in alternative conceptions, often with humour, always with passion.
These are the marks of a true artist and that is echoed in another work, The Imaginary Delta, commissioned by the Manchester Literature Festival of 2014. Poet Jackie Kaye uses her poetry about Bessie Smith, illustrated and supported by Adam Fairhall’s visualizations of her songs to produce an unruly medley evocative of the Tennessee Delta. It’s an accomplished and talented work.
The Spirit Farm exhibits exceptional latitude in its fertile revelations, both ingenious and resourceful, and the improvisation is unbounded.
Reviewed by Ken Cheetham
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