Brian Molley Quartet

Colour And Movement”

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Scottish reeds player Brian Molley was a founding member of the acclaimed reeds/brass group Brass Jaw and appeared on their début album “Burn” back in 2006. Since those days Molley has been a busy figure on the Scottish music scene appearing with a wide variety of jazz, classical and pop ensembles including the Scottish National Jazz Orchestra.

One of Molley’s longest running engagements has been as a member of drummer Stu Brown’s Twisted Toons project, the critically acclaimed interpretation of the music of composer and musical inventor Raymond Scott, the man best known for the soundtracks of Bugs Bunny and other Loony Tunes cartoons. Brown has since broadened his remit to explore the music of other composers of music for cartoons such as Carl Stalling and Scott Bradley.

In 2013 Brown returned the favour by occupying the drum stool on the album “Clock”, Molley’s .first full release as a leader.  Also featuring pianist Tom Gibbs and bassist Mario Caribe the album was critically well received, not least by the Jazzmann. My review of the “Clock” recording can be read here;
http://www.thejazzmann.com/S=61832dc29fb3f4af64d2e3a63e2a2e231ce4d347/reviews/review/brian-molley-quartet-clock/

The success of “Clock” ensured that the quartet toured regularly with their schedule taking them to the USA for two club dates in New York City plus an appearance as part of the “Made in the UK” strand at Rochester Jazz Festival.

The quartet have also worked intensively in India, playing a short series of tour dates as well as collaborating with a group of Rajasthani folk musicians. The fruits of this partnership will be released as the album “Journeys in Hand” later in 2017.

“Colour And Movement” features the same quartet line up of Molley, Gibbs, Caribe and Brown and is informed by their travels as it combines elements of contemporary jazz with the folk music of Scotland, India and Caribe’s native Brazil. However this is not a ‘world jazz’ recording as such, the folk influences are subliminal rather than overt.

Instead the most unusual thing about the album is that it presents twelve different tracks in twelve different key and time signatures. Molley is quick to emphasise that this is not the result of a contrived idea as he explains in the album’s liner notes;
“The qualities of colour and movement in music are often attributed to key and time signature and the twelve tracks on this album are performed in each of the twelve keys of the musical scale, also featuring twelve time signatures. No knowledge of musical theory is necessary to appreciate this and the making of the record was never intended to be a harmonic or rhythmic exercise, but instead to reflect the music we’ve been making in concert over the last few years. I didn’t set out to make an album organised in this way but as the music progressed I realised that it was possible and then I just took it from there. I’ve never really understood the point of making complicated music for its own sake and this album is no exception, instead I’ve always tried to start with an interesting noise and see where it can go”.

Molley is correct in his assertion that no specialist musical knowledge is necessary to enjoy the music on “Colour And Movement”. An average listener, such as myself,  probably wouldn’t latch onto the ‘concept’ behind it without having first perused the liner notes. In this respect “Colour And Movement” is similar to its predecessor, “Clocks”, in that superficially it sounds like a run of the mill mainstream to modern jazz album but is actually a record that reveals hidden depths.

Opener “Electric Daisy” begins with the sound of dampened piano strings and embraces engaging, folk tinged sax melodies plus a variety of tempo changes on an intriguing composition that never stands still for long. Bassist Caribe and pianist Gibbs impress with their pithy solos alongside the warm glow of Molley’s tenor as Brown’s crisp but subtle drum and cymbal work keeps things ticking over.

“Lexington 101”, presumably named in honour of the quartet’s New York experiences, is a lively, bustling piece with a strong bebop flavour. The tricky head and vibrant group performance replicates the energy and urgency of the ‘Big Apple’ with Molley on tenor and Gibbs on piano again impressing with their contributions. Gibbs, a band-leader in his own right and also a member of Brown’s Twisted Toons project, impresses throughout the album with the quality of his playing.

Brown’s busy, colourful drum grooves propel the infectious “Picayune Slinky” which features some delightfully melodic and inventive soprano sax from Molley. Another superb solo from Gibbs is similarly imaginative. Credit should also be accorded to engineer Stuart Hamilton of Castlesound Studios who provides an excellent recorded sound throughout the album.

Apparently the languid “The Pushkar Push”, which opens with unaccompanied sound of Caribe’s bass was inspired by a camel festival that the quartet encountered when they were on tour in India. The elegance of the performance with its warm toned tenor, lyrical piano and sensitively brushed drums evokes something of the serenity of the ‘ship of the desert’  via its stately progress.

“Jacksonville” exudes an easy, late night cool with Molley’s lucid tenor complemented by similarly fluent piano from Gibbs and the busy, but understated, support from the excellent rhythm pairing of Caribe and Brown, the later featuring more prominently in the latter stages of the tune.

The atmospheric and evocative “Saanj In The City” begins with the sound of bowed bass alongside Molley’s gently brooding tenor and the shimmer of Brown’s cymbals. Subsequently its Caribe’s pizzicato bass motif that forms the backbone of the piece with Molley on tenor and Gibbs on piano soloing in fluidly inventive fashion. 

The first non-original is “Cheer Up Charlie”, the song written by Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricuse that was included in the film “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. Performed here as a tender ballad the warmth of Molley’s tenor is complemented by Gibbs’ limpid piano and Brown’s delicate brushwork.

Some of these qualities are carried over into “Journeys In Hand In Hand” which opens with a passage of unaccompanied tenor from Molley before gathering a degree of momentum. The mood is still relaxed although Molley’s saxophone sound now possesses a harder edge. Gibbs’ flowing piano solo is characteristically fluent as Caribe and Brown offer typically sure footed support. The piece can perhaps be seen as a trailer for the similarly titled album set for release later in the year.

“Scalextric” begins in a less energetic fashion than its title might suggest, as if Molley is bathing in some kind of nostalgic glow. But Brown’s bustling, insistent, hip hop influenced drum groove soon introduces the expected urgency with Molley and Gibbs manoeuvring skilfully around him. The title may represent a nod to Molley’s childhood but musically it’s the most contemporary sounding piece on the album.

The sunny Brazilian flavourings of the vivacious and jaunty “A Borboleta” find Molley switching to frothy flute with Caribe moving to guitar. Brazilian born but long resident in Scotland Caribe also leads his own group, indeed the Molley Quartet is very much a ‘band of band leaders”.

The Harold Arlen / Johnny Mercer tune “That Old Black Magic” is the second non original and the quartet present the piece in a fairly heavy disguised arrangement. The performance is fast paced and energetic , rooted in established jazz virtues but given an agreeably contemporary edge. Gibbs and Molley provide powerfully inventive solos as the rhythm team fairly drive the tune along.

The album concludes with Molley overdubbing himself on a variety of horns, including clarinet and bass clarinet, on a brief but beautiful arrangement of Duke Ellington’s “Solitude”. “Clock” included   a similar episode, “Destinesia”.

Once more Brian Molley has produced an album that is both entertaining and enjoyable, but one that again reveals hidden depths. Molley’s writing engages the listener’s attention throughout and the standard of musicianship is superb with all the performers showing up well, something that the engineering and production encourages.

The performances suggest that this would be an impressive group in the live environment. There are no British gigs currently scheduled but the Brian Molley Quartet will appear at the Madras Jazz Festival in Chennai, India on June 3rd 2017.

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