TONY KOFI - Another Kind Of Soul: A Portrait of Cannonball
Last Music Company LMCD217 / LMLP217
Tony Kofi - alto saxophone; Andy Davies- trumpet, Alex Webb - piano; Andrew Cleyndert - bass; Alfonso Vitale - drums
There are dangers in what Tony Kofi does: he has already spent a great deal of time playing all the pieces that Thelonious Monk composed and now here he is paying homage to Cannonball Adderley. You can see why: you use the name of the legend to smuggle your own music through to the audience.
Tony has developed his own voice. Listen to a few of his albums and you will recognise the rough not-pretty sand papery tone. When he is playing other people’s music, he often sounds constrained, shackled. It would be good to hear a more liberated Tony playing as though he was in front of a JATP audience. In other words, Tony is often too polite. There are moments in the album when he is on the edge of stirring up the audience but he pulls back instead of saying: ‘To hell with it!’ and going for it.
‘A Portrait of Cannonball’ written by the pianist Alex Webb opens the album. I doubt if the ebullient Cannonball would have opened the show in such a way. ‘Operation Breadbasket’ composed by Tony Kofi is closer to the spirit of Cannonball. The trumpet solo by Andy Davies is a concisely constructed solo ending with the kind of growls that take us back into an earlier era. Andy is playing Nat to Tony’s Julian. Indeed, Andy is the revelation of the album.
Adderley loved to play ‘Stars Fell on Alabama’. It is a tune that skirts the edge of schmaltz without ever tumbling over. At the beginning Kofi does not stray far from the melody, later his playing is both sincere and scintillating.
Interesting to compare Kofi and Cannonball. Adderley had a lightness and assertiveness that do not often go together. His solos always had a keen sense of direction and structure. Everything was overlaid with energy and a sense of joy. Tony Kofi’s sound is darker, not as light footed, more reflective not as fleet but the enjoyment in playing is certainly there, as well as the impulse to please.
The flag wavers, the pieces that Cannonball had to play every concert, are here: ‘Sack O’ Woe’ and ‘Work Song’. Audiences recognise them in seconds. They have infectious rhythms, the kind of pieces that seem as though they can play themselves, as we can play them in our heads.
Adderley’s rhythm sections were handpicked: he had superior drummers like Louis Hayes, great keyboard players such as Joe Zawinul, bassists Sam Jones. Alex Webb, Andrew Cleyndert and Alfonso Vitale work hard to match and surpass their Illustrious predecessors.
The signature aspect of Cannonball’s work is his joyful verve. He always sounds as though he loves to play. His vitality, his enthusiasm, shine through and he sweeps everything forward. The team on this album capture many of the great aspects of a Cannonball concert, the enjoyment noise from the audience testifies to that.
One sad note is that Luton’s Bear Club where the album was recorded, so well by Paul Riley, has recently announced that it will close permanently. The coronavirus lockdown will ensure that it is not the only casualty.
One strange piece of news from the publicity around this issue is that there will be a vinyl release: ‘The album is available in a limited edition 180gm vinyl—the medium of Adderley’s era’. The vinyl trendy fetish strikes again. Logic, presumably demands if we are to go for the medium of the era when work was recorded then early Armstrong and Ellington should be issued on 78s. Maybe ODJB releases will be sold on cylinders!
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
Last Music Company LMCD217 / LMLP217
Tony Kofi - alto saxophone; Andy Davies- trumpet, Alex Webb - piano; Andrew Cleyndert - bass; Alfonso Vitale - drums
There are dangers in what Tony Kofi does: he has already spent a great deal of time playing all the pieces that Thelonious Monk composed and now here he is paying homage to Cannonball Adderley. You can see why: you use the name of the legend to smuggle your own music through to the audience.
Tony has developed his own voice. Listen to a few of his albums and you will recognise the rough not-pretty sand papery tone. When he is playing other people’s music, he often sounds constrained, shackled. It would be good to hear a more liberated Tony playing as though he was in front of a JATP audience. In other words, Tony is often too polite. There are moments in the album when he is on the edge of stirring up the audience but he pulls back instead of saying: ‘To hell with it!’ and going for it.
‘A Portrait of Cannonball’ written by the pianist Alex Webb opens the album. I doubt if the ebullient Cannonball would have opened the show in such a way. ‘Operation Breadbasket’ composed by Tony Kofi is closer to the spirit of Cannonball. The trumpet solo by Andy Davies is a concisely constructed solo ending with the kind of growls that take us back into an earlier era. Andy is playing Nat to Tony’s Julian. Indeed, Andy is the revelation of the album.
Adderley loved to play ‘Stars Fell on Alabama’. It is a tune that skirts the edge of schmaltz without ever tumbling over. At the beginning Kofi does not stray far from the melody, later his playing is both sincere and scintillating.
Interesting to compare Kofi and Cannonball. Adderley had a lightness and assertiveness that do not often go together. His solos always had a keen sense of direction and structure. Everything was overlaid with energy and a sense of joy. Tony Kofi’s sound is darker, not as light footed, more reflective not as fleet but the enjoyment in playing is certainly there, as well as the impulse to please.
The flag wavers, the pieces that Cannonball had to play every concert, are here: ‘Sack O’ Woe’ and ‘Work Song’. Audiences recognise them in seconds. They have infectious rhythms, the kind of pieces that seem as though they can play themselves, as we can play them in our heads.
Adderley’s rhythm sections were handpicked: he had superior drummers like Louis Hayes, great keyboard players such as Joe Zawinul, bassists Sam Jones. Alex Webb, Andrew Cleyndert and Alfonso Vitale work hard to match and surpass their Illustrious predecessors.
The signature aspect of Cannonball’s work is his joyful verve. He always sounds as though he loves to play. His vitality, his enthusiasm, shine through and he sweeps everything forward. The team on this album capture many of the great aspects of a Cannonball concert, the enjoyment noise from the audience testifies to that.
One sad note is that Luton’s Bear Club where the album was recorded, so well by Paul Riley, has recently announced that it will close permanently. The coronavirus lockdown will ensure that it is not the only casualty.
One strange piece of news from the publicity around this issue is that there will be a vinyl release: ‘The album is available in a limited edition 180gm vinyl—the medium of Adderley’s era’. The vinyl trendy fetish strikes again. Logic, presumably demands if we are to go for the medium of the era when work was recorded then early Armstrong and Ellington should be issued on 78s. Maybe ODJB releases will be sold on cylinders!
Reviewed by Jack Kenny
