Alex Ward

Predicate
“Nails”
(Gaffer Records)

Forebrace
“Bad Folds”
(Copepod Records)

London based musician Alex Ward is a truly remarkable instrumentalist exhibiting an astonishing degree of expertise on both the clarinet and the electric guitar. Ward’s music inhabits the hinterland where composed and fully improvised music meet, although he’s generally regarded as being a “free” player following an apprenticeship that included playing clarinet alongside the late, great Derek Bailey.

Ward started out as a clarinettist, only taking up the guitar in the year 2000 at the age of twenty six. Influenced by Bailey he is now an extremely accomplished guitarist and an inspired improviser who now seems to perform more frequently on his “second instrument” in groups such as his own Predicate and the powerhouse improvising trio N.E.W. which pits his guitar against the rhythmic “tag team” of drummer Steve Noble and double bassist John Edwards.

Predicate was formed in 2010 and features Ward on guitar alongside his long term collaborator Tim Hill (saxophones) plus Dominic Lash on double bass and the versatile and increasingly ubiquitous Mark Sanders at the drums. Predicate’s 2012 eponymous d?but album for FMR Records was a triumph with the quartet delivering some fiery improvisations based around Ward’s strong compositional ideas, a concept Ward referred to as “writing for improvisers”. The approach led to an album with a broader appeal than most improv records, more structured and with recognisable themes and a powerful rhythmic foundation. It was Ward’s intention to have a clearly designated rhythm section and a featured soloist (so far, so jazz) with his guitar sitting somewhere in between. In reality Ward’s solos matched Hill’s for intensity and the record exhibited a potential to appeal to fans of “punk jazz” groups such as Led Bib or Polar Bear and to adventurous rock listeners (aficionados of King Crimson, perhaps). I saw the quartet give an exciting live performance at the Queens Head in Monmouth at around this time, confirmation of the often visceral but readily accessible appeal of their music.

For Predicate’s second album the band have moved to the Lyon based Gaffer Records, a haven for free jazz and improvised music that has recently celebrated its tenth birthday. In keeping with the environment of its new home the group’s music pushes deeper into improvised territory with the first three pieces credited to Alex Ward but with the two part “Bricks” credited to Ward /Predicate, presumably indicating a greater degree of pure improvisation.

The newly formed quartet Forebrace features Ward in his other guise of clarinettist. However guitar fans need not despair as the guitar chair is filled by Roberto Sassi, previously heard as part of the groups Vole, Cardosanto and Snorkel. The line up is completed by Santiago Horro on electric bass and drummer Jem Doulton, the latter having previously collaborated with Ward in the duo Dead Days Beyond Help.

Forebrace’s album “Bad Folds” more than matches “Nails” for intensity and is the result of two intense days in the studio. Despite some previous associations the four musicians had never played together as a unit before but “Bad Folds” reveals an instant rapport across its six tracks which have been edited and structured by Ward to form a coherent whole. Three pieces are spontaneous group improvisations, three the result of compositional ideas by Ward conceived on the spot in the studio environment. As with Predicate the music strikes just the right balance between composition and improvisation and “Bad Folds” also has the potential to reach an audience beyond the usual coterie of die hard improv fans. It, too, is a very exciting record, full of incendiary playing and strong compositional and rhythmic ideas.

Taking each album in turn I’ll begin with “Nails” which sets out its manifesto with the opening thirteen minute title track. The piece roars out of the blocks with belligerent, squalling sax, incendiary drumming and Ward’s all encompassing guitar roar. It’s loud and forceful but also full of musical sophistication with its rapid fire staccato passages contrasting with expansive, full blooded soloing from Ward and Hill, all driven on by the relentless flow of Sanders’ drumming. There’s also an extended passage of solo drums as Sanders’ stream of ideas continues unabated. The music reaches a kind of peak with Sanders’ solo and morphs into something more reflective, exploratory and feely structured and the piece plays itself out in this vein. It’s a neat reversal of the more common improv trope of starting quietly and layering the intensity before reaching some kind of cathartic climax. Instead Predicate begin with an extended explosion, allowing the music to reach critical mass before subtly allowing the energy to diffuse and dissipate.

The shorter “Pall” is led by Hill’s sax which dovetails effectively with Ward’s guitar in a good example of Ward’s “sitting in between” role as Sanders’ drums, heavy on the snare, also fulfil a pivotal role. Ward’s guitar subsequently takes over in a solo that deploys increasingly extreme examples of extended technique before the energy is again dissipated in a more impressionistic outro featuring Sanders’ array of small cymbals and other percussion instruments.

The near elven minute “Traipse” begins with gentle dialogue between Hill on alto and Lash on bass as they extemporise around Ward’s written theme.  The reflective tone is gradually transformed during a remarkable Ward solo, in which the guitarist is brilliantly shadowed by the relentlessly inventive Sanders, but returns for Hill’s subsequent alto ruminations. There’s also a cameo for Lash, with Sanders again the perfect foil with his colourful small percussive details and gestures.

“Bricks 1” begins with the sound of Hill’s sopranino sax and Lash’s arco bass. With Sanders subsequently joining the conversation it becomes a freely improvised discussion with Lash still making occasional use of the bow. It’s the most obviously “free” playing of the set so far but with the musicians producing an impressive array of sounds and timbres it’s absorbing and effective with Sanders again deploying a wide variety of percussive sounds. Ward himself plays a relatively peripheral role, limiting himself to chordal effects.

The lengthier “Bricks 2” builds from similar blocks but features the leader in a more central role with an early passage of extended solo guitar that shows the influence both of his old mentor Derek Bailey and of contemporary experimenters such as Marc Ribot and Marc Ducret. The introduction of Hill’s burly baritone sax takes the music in a more free-wheeling direction with the saxophonist propelled by Sanders polyrhytmic flow before Ward’s use imaginative of feedback steers the music into freer, less structured waters and some of the most “out” playing of the album. The piece concludes with guitar and baritone squalling belligerently, sometimes in tandem, sometimes not, above the busy clatter of Sanders’ drums. Episodic in scope this is an excellent example of Predicate’s ability to combine structure with freedom.

The closing “Toggle”, lasting a mere two and a half minutes, is credited to Hill/ Lash/Ward and features a chunky, rock influenced, composed riff which periodically disintegrates into brief free jazz squalls. Sanders is very much involved but doesn’t get a writing credit. One suspects that the other three had already formulated the format before his arrival at the studio for the one day recording session.

“Nails” is a worthy successor to Predicate’s excellent eponymous d?but and deserves to build on the earlier record’s success. That day in the studio in May 2012 was obviously a highly creative one with the group adding a stronger improvisatory element while still producing eminently accessible music that simultaneously thrills and challenges the listener.

Like its companion the Forebrace album “Bad Folds” combines something of the volume and intensity of rock with the rhythmic and harmonic sophistication of jazz. Again it skilfully treads the line between composition and improvisation with Ward sometimes feeding his clarinet through a small amplifier in order to compete with the electric instrumentation of his colleagues. As a result there’s a degree of distortion about his clarinet sound that fits in just fine alongside Sassi’s guitar and Horro’s electric bass. Acker Bilk it isn’t.

Ward’s clarinet shows up well on the opening “Presage”, one of three pre-composed pieces. He solos ecstatically above Doulton’s tribal drumming and the rumble of Horro’s bass and pushes his instrument to its limit in a display of astonishing verve and intensity. Sassi’s guitar ultimately takes over, his style a combination of rock power and jazz chops that isn’t a million miles removed from Ward’s own. The rock influence is perhaps stronger, something mirrored by the Horro / Doulton rhythm section as the first half of the piece reaches an explosive climax. This is followed by a more impressionistic coda featuring Ward’s clarinet musings above gently underpinning electric bass and Doulton’s atmospheric cymbal scrapes.

The ruminative mood is carried over into the following “Dolorimetry”, a group improvisation led by Ward’s clarinet and featuring Sassi’s guitar electronics. The sombre mood is transformed by Horro’s bass riff which pushes Ward to abandon the grainy and textural and to solo in thrillingly full blooded fashion. His fluency, inventiveness, intensity and passion on clarinet are more than equal to his guitar work on the companion Predicate disc - as he demonstrates here. 

The Ward composed “Outwall” opens with Horro’s monumental bass groove which locks in with Doulton’s equally propulsive drumming to fuel typically powerful and imaginative solos from Ward and Sassi, the front line pairing also linking well together. It’s probably the most straightforward item over the course of these two albums but is no less enjoyable for that and is highly effective. 

The improvised “Groundmass” is more concerned with timbre and texture and mirrors the grainy feel of the first part of “Dolorimetry”. Sassi uses his guitar as a textural device, his chilly electronic sounds initially contrasting well with the woody warmth of Ward’s clarinet. Eventually the two become intertwined as Ward’s playing becomes ever more abstract. Bass and drums remain at the periphery of the music implying pulse and a subtle forward motion rather than straightforwardly driving the music. Ominous and claustrophobic it’s totally different in mood to the outgoing feel of the preceding “Outwall” yet in its own way is even more convincing.

“Groundmass” segues into the improvisatory clatter of the collectively realised “Wasps And Mosquitoes”, the ferment of insect activity implied in the title expressed by busily churning drums and bass plus the restless urgency of Ward’s and Sassi’s solos. The two also combine brilliantly as the piece gradually gathers momentum.

Ward’s “Rejected Testimony” erupts with the kind of guitar power chords that Black Sabbath would be proud of. Ward refers to the track’s “doom laden lamentations” and it’s certainly a heavy piece of work that owes as much to alt rock as jazz. The composer’s clarinet is heavily distorted, all the better to match Sassi’s detuned, feedback drenched heaviness, Horro’s slow motion thunder and Doulton’s brutal drumming. It’s stark and dramatic, almost brutal at times, but is a great way to finish an exceptional album.

In quality terms it’s hard to separate these two excellent albums which present one man’s vision as expressed on two contrasting instruments. There’s a unity of approach and a level of intensity that binds the two albums together and I’d urge anybody reading this to go out and get the pair of them.

Personally I’d give the nod to the Forebrace release but only because I was already familiar with Predicate’s work and this album came as the bigger surprise. It probably also offers more variation with tracks like “Outwall”, “Groundmass” and “Rejected Testimony” all operating within their own well defined soundworlds yet still part of a unified whole.

Few musicians manage to be so convincing on two such fundamentally different instruments. Routinely described as a “polymath” the multi talented Ward is one of the UK’s most significant musicians and occupies a unique position in the space where jazz, rock and improvised music intersect.

His live shows are also terrific and I’m looking forward to seeing him perform this evening (23rd April 2014)  at the Queens Head, Monmouth playing guitar with Predicate.

In the meantime both of the above albums are highly recommended.

blog comments powered by Disqus