WILL GLASER / MATTHEW HERD / LIAM NOBLE - Climbing In Circles
Ubuntu Music: ubu0075
Will Glaser: drums; Matthew Herd: saxophone; Liam Noble: piano
Recorded 25th May 2020 by Ben Lamdin at Fish Factory
Looking at the track listing on this set, you notice a ill-sorted bunch of cover versions with Standards from Ellington (‘Mood indigo’) and Mercer (‘I’m an old cowhand’) rubbing shoulders with tunes from Cherry (‘Mopti’), Motion (‘Mumbo jumbo’), and Tom Waits (‘Lonely’). Amongst this mix are four group compositions. To orientate yourself in their musical world, I think that the best places to start are their take on Mood Indigo and Mopti. Mood Indigo works the melody straight ahead on piano and saxophone, with brushed drums setting a jaunty amble for the pace. ‘Mopti’ begins with bird-calls on sax before Herd languidly states the theme and invites Noble and Glaser to set up the rolling rhythm. About midway through, sax and drums create a spiralling duet that crashes back into the piano before Glaser builds a compelling solo. Elsewhere, Glaser develops duets with one or other musician, echoing their pairings on the previous ‘Climbing in Circles’ sets (recorded as duets, 1 with Herd and 2 with Noble, and featuring a similar approach of combining Standards with improvisations). While the basic allocation of duties among the trio is the same on the two tunes, and while both absolutely respect the traditions in which these pieces are composed, they result in hugely different approaches to rhythm and melody. More subtly, on these pieces they are continually seeking opportunities for experimenting with sounds and textures. This ability to switch between musical genres while also keeping one foot firmly in the avant-garde characterises the playing of all three musicians here. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to find their take on a ‘I’m an old cowhand’ being both a canter through the melody and also a series of vignettes in which each player introduces twists that can catch the listener off-guard before they quickly slip back into more familiar reaches of the tune. In a similar manner, they start Tom Waits gentle ballad ‘Lonely’ with a direct reading of the tune, but then Glaser finds dark and sinister spaces in his percussion to create nuances and textures that make the piece disturbing, as if the loneliness that they are conveying is deeper and darker than simply being alone. Their ability to work the off-kilter textures of tunes is nicely captured by their working of Motion’s ‘Mumbo Jumbo’ which has complicated stick work from Glaser that runs amok behind a post-bop experimentation of Noble’s piano and Herd’s coy sax lines. On the collective improvisations, the trio allow their experimental impulses to come to the fore – but even here, there is a strong sense that melodic and harmonic structures should create the framework within which the pieces develop. As Glaser says, “When we play the tunes it’s with this very open mindset of seeing what will happens. It always feels really open and new things surprise me every time. When we play free, they come out like miniature compositions.” This neatly sums up their playing and, the idea that each piece (whether scored or improvised) is a ‘miniature composition’ perfectly captures the sense of completeness that the listener hears in every tune – not a note or a beat is wasted and every nuance marks a particular shift in emotion and meaning.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
See also review by Eddie Myer: WILL GLASER - Climbing In Circles
Ubuntu Music: ubu0075
Will Glaser: drums; Matthew Herd: saxophone; Liam Noble: piano
Recorded 25th May 2020 by Ben Lamdin at Fish Factory
Looking at the track listing on this set, you notice a ill-sorted bunch of cover versions with Standards from Ellington (‘Mood indigo’) and Mercer (‘I’m an old cowhand’) rubbing shoulders with tunes from Cherry (‘Mopti’), Motion (‘Mumbo jumbo’), and Tom Waits (‘Lonely’). Amongst this mix are four group compositions. To orientate yourself in their musical world, I think that the best places to start are their take on Mood Indigo and Mopti. Mood Indigo works the melody straight ahead on piano and saxophone, with brushed drums setting a jaunty amble for the pace. ‘Mopti’ begins with bird-calls on sax before Herd languidly states the theme and invites Noble and Glaser to set up the rolling rhythm. About midway through, sax and drums create a spiralling duet that crashes back into the piano before Glaser builds a compelling solo. Elsewhere, Glaser develops duets with one or other musician, echoing their pairings on the previous ‘Climbing in Circles’ sets (recorded as duets, 1 with Herd and 2 with Noble, and featuring a similar approach of combining Standards with improvisations). While the basic allocation of duties among the trio is the same on the two tunes, and while both absolutely respect the traditions in which these pieces are composed, they result in hugely different approaches to rhythm and melody. More subtly, on these pieces they are continually seeking opportunities for experimenting with sounds and textures. This ability to switch between musical genres while also keeping one foot firmly in the avant-garde characterises the playing of all three musicians here. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to find their take on a ‘I’m an old cowhand’ being both a canter through the melody and also a series of vignettes in which each player introduces twists that can catch the listener off-guard before they quickly slip back into more familiar reaches of the tune. In a similar manner, they start Tom Waits gentle ballad ‘Lonely’ with a direct reading of the tune, but then Glaser finds dark and sinister spaces in his percussion to create nuances and textures that make the piece disturbing, as if the loneliness that they are conveying is deeper and darker than simply being alone. Their ability to work the off-kilter textures of tunes is nicely captured by their working of Motion’s ‘Mumbo Jumbo’ which has complicated stick work from Glaser that runs amok behind a post-bop experimentation of Noble’s piano and Herd’s coy sax lines. On the collective improvisations, the trio allow their experimental impulses to come to the fore – but even here, there is a strong sense that melodic and harmonic structures should create the framework within which the pieces develop. As Glaser says, “When we play the tunes it’s with this very open mindset of seeing what will happens. It always feels really open and new things surprise me every time. When we play free, they come out like miniature compositions.” This neatly sums up their playing and, the idea that each piece (whether scored or improvised) is a ‘miniature composition’ perfectly captures the sense of completeness that the listener hears in every tune – not a note or a beat is wasted and every nuance marks a particular shift in emotion and meaning.
Reviewed by Chris Baber
See also review by Eddie Myer: WILL GLASER - Climbing In Circles
