Babelfish

“Once Upon a Tide”

(Moletone Records MOLETONE 007)

Brigitte Beraha – voice, Barry Green – piano, Chris Laurence – double bass, Paul Clarvis – drums, percussion, singing bowl

Released at the end of June 2019 “Once Upon a Tide” is the latest album release from the London based quartet Babelfish, co-led by vocalist Brigitte Beraha and pianist Barry Green.

It follows the group’s acclaimed début “Babelfish” (2012) and the follow up “Chasing Rainbows” (2015), both also released on Green’s Moletone imprint.

The band developed out of the Beraha / Green duo and it represented something of a coup for the pair to bring the vastly experienced Laurence and Clarvis on board, two bona fide greats of British jazz.

Beraha is one of the most adventurous vocalists on the UK jazz scene, an excellent interpreter of songs as well as being a skilled improviser capable of using her voice as an additional instrument.
She has recorded two albums under her own name, 2005’s “Prelude to A Kiss” and 2008’s “Flying Dreams”, which placed a greater emphasis on original material and highlighted Beraha’s abilities as a songwriter and lyricist.

Beraha is particularly adept at working with pianists and has recorded duo albums with both John Turville and Frank Harrison. She is also a member of bassist/composer Dave Manington’s sextet Riff Raff and of the collaborative sextet Solstice. A prominent member of the E17 Jazz Collective she sings with the E17 Large Ensemble. In 2018 she made a substantial contribution to the success of the album “Criss Cross” as she guested with the duo of pianist Alcyona Mick and saxophonist Tori Freestone.

Others with whom Beraha has worked include saxophonists Ed Jones, Josephine Davies, George Crowley and Bobby Wellins, trumpeters Kenny Wheeler, Andre Canniere, Reuben Fowler, Andy Hague and Yazz Ahmed, pianists Geoff Eales, Ivo Neame and Rick Simpson and multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Thomas Baines.

Green is one of the most versatile pianists around and has a particular affinity for working with singers. He also has a fruitful musical partnership with Swedish born, London based vocalist Emilia Martensson and has also worked extensively with Ian Shaw.  He has been an important component of alto saxophonist Martin Speake’s excellent Generations quartet. Others with whom he has worked include saxophonists Ingrid Laubrock and Charles McPherson and bassists Larry Bartley and Mick Hutton. Green has also performed as part of a duo with his bassist namesake Dave.

Green has also recorded a number of albums under his own name including “Introducing Barry Green” (2008). He has also worked fruitfully with American musicians, his 2008 trio album “The Music of Chance” featuring the rhythm pairing of bassist Ben Street and drummer Jeff Williams.
In January 2014 Green visited New York where he recorded the albums “Great News”, with saxophonist Chris Cheek and drummer Gerald Cleaver,  and “Almost There” with Drew Gress on bass and Tom Rainey at the drums.

The music of Babelfish is informed by both jazz and classical music and also reflects Beraha’s love of literature and poetry. This latest album places a greater emphasis on the original writing of Beraha and Green, who compose separately rather than together. However both have drawn inspiration from some of their favourite books to explore lyrical themes such as life and death, the beauty of impermanence and the cyclical nature of existence. The only ‘outside’ material comes from classical composer Henry Purcell and from the Duke Ellington / Billy Strayhorn partnership.

The album commences with the almost subliminal sound of Clarvis playing the singing bowl on the richly atmospheric introduction to Beraha’s “The Book of Joy”.  The piece reveals Beraha to be a fluent vocal improviser, willing to use extended vocal techniques, as well as being a superb interpreter of her own intelligent and perceptive lyrics,  here apparently inspired jointly by the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu.  Green, Laurence and Clarvis offer selfless, sympathetic support and really come into their own as the piece gathers momentum with a sparkling piano solo from Green underpinned by Clarvis’ sprightly, consistently inventive drumming. It’s a piece that moves through a variety of moods and tempos from the reflective to the joyous, with Beraha actually breaking into laughter at one point.

Purcell’s “Dido’s Lament” is introduced by the sound of Beraha’s unaccompanied vocal as she explores its themes of death and remembrance. With Clarvis deploying brushes the trio offer characteristically sensitive support with Green’s crystalline piano deftly shadowing Beraha’s vocal lines.

Green’s tune “The Inspector and the Collector” demonstrates Beraha’s abilities as a wordless vocal improviser, her ready acknowledgement of the influence of Norma Winstone inviting comparisons as Beraha’s voice swoops and soars. Meanwhile Green solos lyrically but expansively above a buoyant bass and drum groove.

Beraha’s “Hobie” opens with the sound of vocal percussion and other extended techniques before she unravels a tongue twisting lyric interspersed with further wordless vocal improvisations. The piece is also distinguished by its unorthodox time signatures with Green the featured instrumental soloist, while Clarvis is a particularly colourful presence behind the kit.

Also written by the singer “Haven’t Met You Yet” is more conventional, a wistful love song featuring a gently yearning vocal and a delightfully melodic double bass solo from Laurence.

Green’s “City of Glass” features words extracted from Paul Auster’s novel of the same name. The opening words of the book also form the opening lines of the song. There’s also a suitably ‘narrative’ quality about the music as it moves through a variety of moods, styles and tempi, the musical plot skilfully steered by three master instrumentalists.

More literary quotations on “The Sea, the Sea” which is inspired by the Iris Murdoch novel of the same name and features lyrics that reference all the themes of the album. Like its immediate predecessor the piece is another seamless fusion of music and literature, although this time with rather more room for instrumental self expression as Green delivers a thoughtful but expansive piano solo, expertly shadowed by bass and drums.

Green’s “Casual Incompetence” is a second wordless composition, a brief but bustling piece that combines soaring vocal lines with busy rhythms, almost shading into free jazz at times with Laurence’s bass playing a particularly prominent role.

The Ellington / Strayhorn composition “Pretty Girl”, also known as “The Star-Crossed Lovers” has Shakespeare’s “Romeo Juliet” as its literary reference. Delivered relatively straight as an orthodox jazz ballad the song features Beraha’s elegant reading of the lyric alongside some beautifully relaxed ‘scat’ vocal improvising. Green’s piano solo finds him at his most flowingly lyrical while Clarvis’ neatly detailed brushwork is a particular delight, so too Laurence’s counter-melodies on double bass.

The album concludes with Beraha’s setting of Max Jacob’s poem “Vie et Maree” (translation “Life and Tide”, hence, perhaps, the album title). Beraha sings the lyric in French and also includes some extreme Julie Tippetts style vocalising. She is able to sing convincingly in several different languages, an ability that I like to think helped to provide this group with its name - that and an obvious love for the wonderful writings of the late Douglas Adams.
“Vie et Maree” is also notable for the richly melancholic bowed bass which provides the bridge into the song’s second, more upbeat section which mixes Beraha’s French lyrics with some bravura wordless vocal improvising.

“Once Upon a Tide” represents a worthy addition to the Babelfish canon as the quartet again combine grace and beauty with an intellectual and improvisational rigour. For all its apparent prettiness there’s a fierce intelligence about Babelfish’s music.

The lack of conventional jazz swing and the rarefied quality of some of the music may not appeal to some dyed in the wool jazz listeners, but anybody prepared to approach this music with an open mind and ear should find much to enjoy here.

 

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