1. The Happy Ending
2. Patriotic Tune
3. The Dance Weaver
4. Finding Amy
5. Straight Talk
6. The Regent Golden Fox and King
7. Tight Lines
8. With All These Things To Remember...
9. Over The Rainbow
Jamil Sheriff – Piano
Kevin Holborough – Trombone
Joel Purnell – Alto sax
Ben Martin – Tenor sax
Andrew Colman – Flugelhorn
Pat McCarthy – Guitar
John Perry – Drums
Zoltan Dekany - Bass
You
don't hear many jazz octets nowadays, as most
small groups are smaller - and big bands are
much bigger. So it is refreshing to encounter
a bandleader who writes for an eight-piece
group and has even managed to keep it together
since it was formed a few years ago and recorded
its first album, Daydreams.
Jamil
Sheriff is a pianist from Bolton in Lancashire
who studied at Leeds College of Music and
is now a lecturer there and at York University.
This CD is the first to have been recorded
with help from Jazz Services, which has a
Recording Support Scheme that will enable
eight British bands to make albums over the
next two years. Jamil wrote all but the final
track here and some of the tunes are instantly
catchy – like Patriotic Song, which
has a hummable melody that provides a good
basis for improvisation, with Joel Purnell
playing a dexterous alto solo. Despite its
forbidding title, The Regent Golden Fox
and King is an atmospheric blues which
might have been written by Charles Mingus.
Some
of the other numbers are less memorable –
like Finding Amy, whose twisting theme
leaves guitarist Pat McCarthy struggling to
construct a convincing solo. And Tight
Lines disconcertingly fades in, as if
the listener is being ushered in part-way
through a repetitive riff for no particular
reason. However, like the more accessible
tunes, these tracks display Sheriff's enterprising
arrangements, which make interesting use of
the ensemble. That adventurous spirit is illustrated
by Sheriff's handling of the closing tune,
Harold Arlen's Over the Rainbow. Jamil
starts by playing the verse on the piano,
then the horns interweave in the main theme
with some out-of-the-way voicings. Andrew
Colman takes a poignant flugelhorn solo, backed
by questing accompaniment from the rhythm
section, followed by an equally delicate piano
solo from Jamil.
All
in all, this album holds one's attention with
the inventiveness of some of the solos and,
above all, by the variety of the arrangements.
Tony
Augarde
CD Reviews
Jazz
Services JSLCD 001 (distributed by 33
Records)
