Alice Leggett Quintet, Shrewsbury Jazz Network, The Hive Music & Media Centre, Shrewsbury, 05/04/2025.

Alice Leggett – alto saxophone, Alex Hitchcock – tenor saxophone, Chaerin Im – piano, Tijs Klaassen – double bass, Wouter Kuhne – drums

Alice Leggett is a Welsh alto saxophonist, composer and bandleader now based in Amsterdam. She studied at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (RWCMD) in her home city of Cardiff before moving to London where she continued her jazz education at Trinity Laban.

During her student days, and in the years thereafter, I remember seeing Leggett perform regularly at Brecon Jazz Festival. In 2018 and 2019 she was part of the Festival Big Bands, respectively led by trombonist Gareth Roberts and trumpeter Steve Waterman. 2019 also saw Leggett leading her own London based quartet featuring pianist Rick Simpson, bassist Calum Gourlay and drummer Jon Scott at a successful show at the Guildhall venue.
https://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/saturday-at-brecon-jazz-festival-2019-10-08-2019

During her time in London Leggett, an ex NYJO member, also worked with  with the Calum Gourlay Big Band and with the Patchwork Jazz Orchestra and in 2020 was the subject of a feature in Jazzwise Magazine’s “One to Watch” series.

Leggett’s talents were also noticed by tenor saxophonist and composer Mark Lockheart, one of her former tutors. She appeared as a key member of the ensemble on Lockheart’s large scale work “Days On Earth”, his most ambitious recording to date, released in 2019 on Edition Records. Review here; http://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/mark-lockheart-days-on-earth/

Since moving to Amsterdam in 2020 Leggett has established herself as a major presence on the Dutch jazz scene, leading her own quartet featuring Chaerin Im on piano, Tijs Klaassen on double bass and Wouter Kuhne at the drums. With Im she also co-leads the quintet *Orchestra*, an ensemble that also includes Ask Morris Rasmussen on tenor saxophone, Matteo Mazzu on electric bass, and Pedro Nobre on drums. This group recently won the Keep an Eye International Jazz Award and embarked on a tour in South Korea, Im’s native country, in September 2024.

Leggett also works as a sidewoman with Netherlands based artists such as guitarist Teis Serney, drummer Sun-Mi Hong and bassist Alessandro Fongaro and is also a member of bands led by Im and Klaassen.

“Birdsong”, Leggett’s debut album, is due to be released on the Dutch label ZenneZ Records in early May 2025 but is already available for purchase at gigs. The record features twelve original compositions by Leggett and features a sextet that includes the regular quartet of Leggett, Im, Klaassen and Kuhne augmented by the presence of two British musicians, tenor saxophonist Alex Hitchcock and the Scottish born trumpeter Alistair Payne, now based in the Netherlands. Payne also acts as the album’s mixing and mastering engineer. It’s an elaborately packaged release and the album brochure is a testament to Leggett’s love of poetry.

Leggett is currently touring the UK with a five piece version of the band and their visit to Shrewsbury was partly thanks to the fact that Im had impressed SJN chairman Mike Wright when he saw her playing with bassist Jasper Hoiby’s 3 Elements Trio. In addition to this Hitchcock is very much a favourite with audiences at The Hive, having performed at the venue with his own groups on a number of occasions.

Tonight’s show saw the quintet perform the new album in its entirety, albeit in a different running order. It could be argued that Leggett is following a similar path to Ingrid Laubrock in that her compositions are becoming increasingly complex and sophisticated and are sometimes possessed of an agreeably dark edge. The music took a while to get into but gradually won over both myself and the rest of the audience.

Tonight also witnessed the debut of the Collard & Collard upright acoustic piano that was recently generously donated The Hive. Im certainly seemed to enjoy playing the instrument and later expressed her approval, although a little extra miking might be a good idea for its next outing. But after years of lamenting the absence of a ‘real piano’ at The Hive I was absolutely delighted to see – and more importantly to hear – this new addition.

None of tonight’s material had featured at Leggett’s 2019 Brecon Jazz Festival show and the quintet commenced with “Remember the Blue Sky”, which was ushered in by Im at the piano, quickly joined by the leader’s high register alto, sounding appropriately like the birdsong of the album title. Also notable was the melancholic sound of Klaassen’s bowed bass and the delicate sax interplay between Leggett’s alto and Hitchcock’s tenor. The addition of Kuhne’s drums and Klaassen’s switch to pizzicato bass saw the music gather momentum before the group temporarily moved into piano trio mode during the course of an expansive solo from Im. A short linking passage featuring the sounds of alto sax and bowed bass then led to a more conventional alto solo from the leader.

Album opener “Sunflower Song” commenced with a twin sax intro, the long melody lines of the horns again augmented by bowed bass and cymbal shimmers as Im provided free ranging piano embellishments. A gradual increase in momentum led into a thoughtful tenor sax solo from Hitchcock, his increasingly forceful explorations complemented by piano, pizzicato double bass and Kuhne’s subtly unfolding drum commentary. The musical relationship between the different sounds of alto and tenor saxophones is clearly a source of fascination to Leggett, perhaps a legacy of her work with Lockheart, and was very much a feature of tonight’s performance. This piece concluded as it had begun, with the delicate intertwining of tenor and alto.

Divided into the three separate parts on the recording “A Million Dreams” is inspired by a series of quotes by Duke Ellington, among them “Oh man, I got a million dreams. That’s all I do is dream. All the time”. This was introduced by the sound of Kuhne’s brushed drums, joined in duet by the fluttering of Leggett’s alto sax, with tenor, bass and piano later added for a brief free jazz episode, this followed by a similarly brief excursion into piano trio mode. The music continued to ebb and flow with the twin saxes then combining above loosely structured rhythms and with Leggett eventually soloing on alto sax, supported by piano, bass and brushed drums.
Im’s adoption of a more percussive piano sound appeared to signal the transition into “Fire at Full Moon”, a title inspired by a Paul Klee painting. Interestingly the title of “Castle and Sun”, a Leggett composition that was performed by her quartet at Brecon in 2019 had also been inspired by a work by Klee. The music began to gather momentum as Kuhne set up a quirky drum groove featuring the sounds of sticks on rims as the saxes were added, with Hitchcock emerging as the featured soloist, supported by still percussive piano and vigorously plucked double bass.  Leggett subsequently added her alto to create an increasingly animated debate and the performance also included a powerful drum feature from Kuhne.

This concluded a short but highly concentrated first set – the second was to be longer – but given the intensity of the music, and the fact that this last item was actually two tunes rolled into one, this was probably an opportune time to take a break.

At half time I took the opportunity of moving seats, situating myself closer to the piano and further away from the drum kit, which resulted in a better sound balance and meant that I enjoyed the second set far more.

Set two began with the quartet piece “Repose”, as Hitchcock sat out. One of Leggett’s most reflective and lyrical pieces this was introduced by Im at the piano, with Leggett adding a gentle alto sax melody as Klaassen and Kuhne joined to add sympathetic support via sparse double bass and delicately brushed drums. Klaassen was featured on an extended double bass solo that was both melodic and inventive. A short passage of unaccompanied piano then provided the bridge into a melodic and gently keening alto sax solo.

Hitchcock returned as the quintet performed “Zoe”, a dedication to Leggett’s sister. This was an episodic piece, introduced by Klaassen at the bass, joined by Kuhne at the drums and Im at the piano, the latter taking the first solo. The saxophones eventually appeared, with both Leggett and Hitchcock delivering slow burning solos that gradually ramped up the intensity.
An extended unaccompanied alto sax cadenza, eventually augmented by tenor sax, ticking cymbals and bowed bass appeared to mark the transition into “Solace”, a gentler, more impressionistic piece featuring the leader’s alto sax melodies and the gently exploratory soloing of Hitchcock and Im.

The album title is a dedication to Leggett’s mother, Michelle Bird, and the title track is a two part composition that allows the quintet members plenty of opportunity to stretch out as Leggett explains in her album notes;
“As a composer and bandleader my goal has always been to write music that gives the musicians I choose to play with the space in which to express themselves fully, and I’m grateful to them for embracing that space so fully”.
Introduced by Klaassen at the bass, joined by Im’s piano arpeggios, Leggett’s fluttering alto and Kuhne’s cymbal chimes and splashes the first part began in atmospheric fashion, with the twin saxes eventually combining to state the main melodic theme. Hitchcock then emerged as the first featured soloist. A short unaccompanied piano passage appeared to signal the transition into the second part of the composition with the saxes again combining to state the theme prior to an expansive piano solo, with Im accompanied by double bass and the bustle of vigorously brushed drums. A second unison sax passage was positively anthemic and was complemented by Kuhn’s powerful drumming as the quintet signed off with a flourish.

The deserved encore was “Song for Who You Could’ve Been”, the final track on the “Birdsong” album. This piece represents Leggett’s successful attempt to write a piece in the style of a traditional Welsh folk tune. It was introduced by the two saxes in conjunction with deep, grainy bowed bass and ominous low end piano rumblings. Eventually a gentle, folk like melody emerged, played by Leggett on alto sax as Klaassen switched to pizzicato bass and Kuhne picked up his mallets. This was a longer rendition than the recorded version, which is little more than a cameo or coda at the very end of the album. Klaassen briefly took up the bow again at the close as the evening ended on a gently elegiac note.

Although the attendance for this event was fairly modest, understandable for a still emerging musician who has been based outside the UK for the last five years, this was still an enjoyable and immersive listening experience and the number of CD sales after the gig reflected this. The ratio of album sales in relation to audience numbers must have been encouragingly high.

I enjoyed the second set more than the first, partly because of my change of position in the room but also because I was now finding it easier to get a handle on Leggett’s sophisticated and often complex writing. I treated myself to a copy of “Birdsong” and have found it to be one of those albums that reveals more and more on each subsequent listening. It’s a very interesting and accomplished debut that reflects Leggett’s growing maturity as a musician and as such constitutes highly recommended listening.

Of course the album sounds very different thanks to the additional presence of Payne on trumpet, but nevertheless the quintet managed to capture its essence with tonight’s performance, with Im again catching the eyes and ears of many onlookers. The recording flows rather like a suite with the three parts of “Million Dreams” acting as interludes between the longer ‘movements’. Hopefully the album will do well for Leggett and establish her as a musician to be reckoned with on the UK and wider European jazz scenes.

My thanks to Alice, Alex, Chaerin and Wouter for speaking with me during the interval and after the show and to Mike Wright and SJN for bringing the Alice Leggett Quintet to The Hive. It was interesting to see just how much progress she has made since her visits to Brecon half a dozen years ago.