Photograph of Andrea Di Biase sourced from the EFG London Jazz Festival website
http://www.efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk

EFG LONDON FESTIVAL 2019

Day Five, Tuesday 19th November 2019

ESCAPE HATCH, PIZZA EXPRESS JAZZ CLUB, SOHO

Today’s free lunchtime performance came from Escape Hatch, the trio led by the Italian born, London based bassist and composer Andrea Di Biase.

The group made its recorded début in 2017 with the album “Roots of Unity”, released on the Whirlwind Recordings label. It featured a core trio of Di Biase on double bass and Dave Hamblett at the drums, both present and correct in today’s line up, plus Phronesis pianist Ivo Neame. The album also featured a special guest in the shape of the esteemed saxophonist Julian Arguelles and the album was rightly credited to “Escape Hatch featuring Julian Arguelles”.

This was an excellent recording and featured compositions from both Di Biase and Neame. My review of the “Roots of Unity” album can be read here;
http://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/escape-hatch-featuring-julian-arguelles-roots-of-unity/

With the consistently busy Neame unavailable the piano chair was filled by Di Biase’s compatriot Alessandro Lanzoni, a rising star of the Italian jazz scene.

As regards his writing for Escape Hatch Di Biase acknowledges the inspiration of such bass led ‘piano’ trios as Phronesis and the Avishai Cohen Trio in addition to pianist Vijay Iyer’s trio. He also cites the influence of such classical composers as Messiaen and Ligeti plus wider inspirations ranging from mathematical principles to current political events.

But perhaps the greatest influence on Di Biase is the late, great trumpeter and composer Kenny Wheeler, with whom the bassist once studied. Escape Hatch regularly perform with guest artists, the list of previous performers including both Wheeler and Arguelles.

The forerunner to Escape Hatch was another Anglo-Italian alliance, Oltremare Quartet, who recorded the album “Uncommon Nonsense” on the Babel label in 2011. Di Biase was the group’s principal composer and the quartet also included the Italian pianist Antonio Zambrini plus the British musicians Michael Chillingworth (saxes) and Jon Scott (drums).

Di Biase has also worked with pianist Bruno Heinen and the all Italian quartet Dugong, recording with both.

Today’s performance commenced with a Di Biase composition from the Oltremare Quartet recording, a tune dedicated to Kenny Wheeler titled “One Swan”, the name of the piece reflecting Wheeler’s love of wordplay. The music itself had something of Wheeler’s melancholy lyricism, with Hamblett deploying brushes and with Di Biase featuring twice, either side of an expansive piano solo from the excellent Lanzoni.

The rapid pace of “Displaced Ideas” exhibited more of the acknowledged Cohen/Phronesis influences and included a dazzling piano solo from Lanzoni and a lively drum feature from Hamblett.

From the “Roots of Unity” Di Biase’s composition “Today, Tomorrow, Never” was dedicated to the migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea in flimsy vessels, seeking a better life in the composer’s native Italy.
Today it was teamed with a newer piece titled (I think) “Antonymer”. The segue commenced with a passage of unaccompanied piano followed by a more conventional piano solo, with Hamblett moving from brushes to sticks as the music gradually gathered momentum. A solo drum passage provided the link into the second part of the piece with Di Biase’s bass carrying the melody and subsequently improvising around it to the accompaniment of Lanzoni’s piano arpeggios. Having brought this section to a peak the final passage was more lyrical and impressionistic with mellifluous solos from both bass and piano and with Hamblett occupying the role of colourist.

Also from the “Roots of Unity” album the first set concluded with its opening track “Hysterical Revisionism”. Di Biase described his piece as “a long tune, much re-written”, the title constituting a reference to the writing process. Today’s version was ushered in by a passage of solo piano from Lanzoni before expanding to embrace considerable harmonic and rhythmic complexities whilst encompassing further solos from piano and double bass.

Set two commenced with “Twittering Machine”, the title not a reference to the social media giant but instead a dedication to the Swiss artist Paul Klee (1879-1940). I seem to recall that pianist Richard Fairhurst composed a piece with the same title for his Hungry Ants group more than a decade ago, perhaps he was inspired by Klee too.
However, I digress. The music itself featured melodic bass, brushed drums and solos from Di Biase and Lanzoni.

“Martello” was written for Di Biase’s infant son and combined passages of frenetic activity with gentler, more reflective passages, an approximation perhaps of the youngster’s sleep patterns. Along the way we heard lyrical, unaccompanied piano passages alongside an altogether more vigorous drum feature from Hamblett.

From the “Roots of Unity” album Di Biase’s composition “Dust and Moonlight” was presented here as a thoughtful ballad with brushed drums and anchoring bass accompanying Lanzoni’s gently probing piano ruminations.

“Iconocluster” marked a return to the more intense and complex side of the trio’s music with Di Biase and Lanzoni.

An excellent second set closed with the only non-Di Biase composition of the afternoon. This was the beautiful Kenny Wheeler tune “My Gospel”, one of the great man’s final compositions and a piece that remains unrecorded. The original chart was given by Wheeler to Di Biase and the bassist led the performance from a manuscript written in Wheeler’s own hand. The tune proved to be one of Wheeler’s most beautiful pieces and was possessed of what Di Biase described as an “uplifting, even Christmas vibe”. It was reminiscent of one of Keith Jarrett’s gospel infused country blues songs, and of course Wheeler and Jarrett famously collaborated on the trumpeter’s classic ECM album “Gnu High”, released in 1976 – Jarrett’s last ever sideman session as I seem to recall.
Di Biase and his colleagues more than did Wheeler’s memory justice with their delightful rendition of his tune, with Di Biase’s gorgeously melodic bass solo the undoubted highlight.

It’s been three years since “Roots of Unity” first appeared and on the evidence of today’s performance a new Escape Hatch album is surely overdue. The majority of today’s compositions from Di Biase are as yet unrecorded and on today’s evidence they very much deserve to be documented on disc.

I was very impressed by the playing of this trio and by the quality of Di Biase’s writing. Lanzoni represented an exciting new discovery for me and I’d welcome the opportunity of hearing his playing in other contexts. He leads his own trio and performs as a solo pianist. He also appears in bands led by drummers Roberto Gatti and Aldo Romano and his second trio album includes a guest appearance by the great American trumpeter Ralph Alessi.

Like the other members of Escape Hatch Lanzoni is a name to look out for.

LARS DANIELSSON GROUP; LIBERETTO III, WIGMORE HALL.

My account of this evening’s performance at Wigmore Hall by the Swedish bassist and composer Lars Danielsson and his Liberetto group has already been published elsewhere on the Jazzmann site as a stand alone item at the request of publicist Sally Reeves. For the sake of completeness it is reproduced below;

Lars Danielsson Group, Liberetto III, Wigmore Hall, London, 19/11/2019
(Part of the EFG London Jazz Festival)

Lars Danielsson – double bass, composer Gregory Privat – piano, John Parricelli – guitar, Magnus Ostrom - drums

The Swedish bassist, cellist and composer Lars Danielsson has enjoyed a long fruitful association with the Munich based ACT record label, founded by producer Siggi Loch, releasing his first album for the label as a leader in 2004.

The roots of the Liberetto project lay in the highly creative alliance that he formed with the Polish pianist Leszek Modzder, with whom he collaborated on the duo recording “Pasodoble” (2007). The pianist remained for 2009’s “Tarantella”, a quintet recording made under Danielsson’s leadership that featured a stellar international band that also included Norwegian trumpeter Mathias Eick, British guitarist John Parricelli and American drummer Eric Harland.

The excellent “Tarantella” can be seen as the forerunner of the “Liberetto” series that Danielsson has since recorded for ACT. With Mozdzer concentrating on a highly successful solo career Danielsson assembled a new international group for the first “Liberetto” recording, released in 2012. Parricelli remained in place with the Armenian born Tigran Hamasyan taking over the piano chair as Arve Henriksen replaced his compatriot Eick on trumpet and former E.S.T. drummer Magnus Ostrom came in behind the kit.

The second “Liberetto” album from 2014 saw the group reduced to a four piece following Henriksen’s departure and the quartet format remained for 2017’s “Liberetto III” but with the French pianist Gregory Privat replacing Hamasyan, the second of Danielsson’s pianists to choose to concentrate on a solo career.

Away from the Liberetto group Danielsson has recorded prolifically for ACT as a collaborator or sideman including recordings with trumpeter Paolo Fresu, trombonist Nils Landgren, drummer Wolfgang Haffner, vocalists Caecilie Norby and Youn Sun Nah and many more.

Prior to his tenure with ACT Danielsson, born in 1958, worked with many leading American and European musicians including saxophonist Dave Liebman, guitarists John Abercrombie and John Scofield, pianist Bobo Stenson, drummers Jon Christensen and Jack DeJohnette among many others.

The Liberetto series of recordings have always placed a strong emphasis on melody while seeking to blend the influences of jazz, classical chamber music and European folk music. Danielsson studied classical cello before turning to jazz and picking up the double bass. It was perhaps as a result of these classical leanings that tonight’s performance, part of the 2019 EFG London Jazz Festival, took place in the refined surroundings of Wigmore Hall, one of London’s leading classical music venues.

The performance began with “Nikita’s Dream”, the freely structured intro featuring the sound of Danielsson’s bowed bass. Ostrom’s brushed drum grooves, Privat’s melodic piano motifs and the glistening textures of Parricelli’s guitar then helped to establish an overall feel of lyricism allied to a sense of Nordic melancholy. Danielsson’s highly developed melodic sensibilities were immediately in evidence on his introductory bass solo, his feature followed by a similarly tasteful guitar solo from Parricelli and a more expansive outing from Privat at the piano.

Dating back to the first “Liberetto” recording “Orange Market” proved to be more sprightly with Privat and Parricelli doubling up on the melody lines prior to Danielsson’s typically tuneful bass solo. As the music gathered momentum Privat’s piano solo became feverishly inventive and it was the Frenchman who proved to be the real discovery of the evening. He was the only member of the quartet that I hadn’t seen or heard before and his playing was a revelation. I’d certainly be interested in investigating his work in other contexts.  Privat leads his own trio and in 2016 released his own album, “Family Tree” on ACT, a recording also featuring the talents of bassist Linley Marthe and drummer Tilo Bertholo. In the meantime “Orange Market” featured further soloing from Danielsson, plus a well received drum feature from Ostrom, who deployed brushes almost throughout the evening.

The next piece was unannounced, beginning in ballad mode with Parricelli’s gentle acoustic guitar introduction, subsequently joined by piano, bass and drums as the piece began to unfold, with the delicate interplay between the instruments consistently absorbing the listener’s attention. Danielsson’s bowed bass solo was both melancholic and beautiful, his tone high pitched (comparatively) and almost cello like.

Dedicated to the Ukrainian city “Lviv” was sourced from the latest album and was clearly a crowd favourite with a smattering of applause breaking out as members of the audience recognised the melody.  Ostrom laid down a busily brushed rhythm that resembled his patented “E.S.T. groove”, this proving to be the perfect jumping off point for Privat’s virtuoso piano pyrotechnics and one of Danielsson’s more muscular pizzicato bass excursions. Ostrom’s final drum flourish then helped to elicit the loudest cheers of the night thus far.

The first set concluded with “Passacaglia”, played here in 4/4 rather than the usual waltz time Privat’s rippling piano arpeggios were accompanied by the keening, eerie textures of Parricelli’s guitar with the Frenchman also featuring as a soloist alongside the leader on dexterously plucked double bass.

I was a little surprised that an interval was called at this venue but maybe it was just as well as the break seemed to galvanise the band and drive them on to even greater heights in the second half. With the exception of Privat everybody had played it relatively cool in the first set but the second half was to feature a greater degree of dynamic contrasts, particularly towards the end of the show when all the musicians seemed to shed their inhibitions.

Set two began began with a new tune titled “Fifth Grade”, introduced by Privat at the keyboard and with Ostrom’s brushed drum grooves fuelling yet another feverish solo from the Martinique born pianist. Also prominent as a soloist was the consistently melodic leader on double bass.

The evening really came alive as an event with Danielsson’s unaccompanied bass extemporisations around the Joni Mitchell song “Both Sides Now”. This was simultaneously technically dazzling and jaw-droppingly beautiful, an irresistible combination that held the Wigmore audience totally spellbound. One could have heard the proverbial pin drop.

Danielsson dedicated the beautiful, and eminently hummable, melody of “Agnus Dei” to the memory of his late mother. Propelled by the gently shuffling grooves of Ostrom’s brushed drums the piece reminded me of Pat Metheny’s “Last Train Home” and incorporated delightfully mellifluous solos from Privat and Danielsson.

Danielsson described the next piece as being “stressful and fast”. I missed the title but from reading other accounts of the show suspect that it may have been called “Up the Tunnel”. In any event it saw the quartet upping both the pace and the energy levels with Ostrom’s increasingly propulsive   drumming leading the way. There were more Metheny-esque elements in Parricelli’s coruscating guitar solo, setting the tone for the leader on bass and Privat with a bravura and highly percussive piano solo.

The intensity was maintained on the final tune of the second set, a piece introduced by the military rhythms of Ostrom’s brushed drums and Privat’s slivers of piano melody. Parricelli’s slow burning solo introduced a subtle and unexpected blues influence before Danielsson’s solo provided the link into a riff based closing section that continued to exhibit a distinct rock feel and attitude. Metaphorically this chamber jazz group had suddenly swapped their matching suits for leather jackets.

This rousing finale had the audience on their feet and an encore was inevitable, with the quartet winding things down again with another gorgeous ballad featuring the melodic and dexterous soloing of Danielsson and Parricelli.

This performance by the Danielsson group has been well received by audience and critics alike. I heard many favourable comments immediately after the show and the online reviews have been universally positive. I was at the very back of the Hall and didn’t have the best view of the players but the music sounded marvellous, with each member of this well balanced, tightly knit all star group making a telling contribution. Danielsson’s best soloing came on “Both Sides Now” but his presence as the composer of virtually all the other material was arguably even more important than his role as a musician. He has a unique approach to composition that has helped to make his music both distinctive and popular, a rare combination. Parricelli grabbed his soloing opportunities with both hands and the effervescent and exuberant Privat impressed throughout, often getting to his feet during his frequently dazzling solos. Also key to the success of the evening was Ostrom, one of the world’s most distinctive drummers, who drove the music with subtlety and inventiveness and an understated power, largely deploying brushes alone, an impressive feat.

Even those who have found Danielsson a little bloodless on record were impressed by this evening’s performance, particularly in the shorter, but less inhibited second set where the matchless beauty of “Both Sides Now” opened the floodgates for a genuinely rousing final section.

blog comments powered by Disqus