Centre-Line, Dempsey’s, Cardiff, 14/02/2012.

Centre-Line is a hard hitting contemporary fusion outfit co-led by tenor saxophonist Russell van den Berg and drummer Darren Altman. The line up is completed by Guitarist Jez Franks and electric bassist Jon Harvey both of whom make a substantial contribution to the group’s sound.

I first encountered Altman’s playing when he backed singer Sarah Ellen Hughes at a recent engagement at Black Mountain Jazz in Abergavenny (a show reviewed elsewhere on this site). He subsequently sent me copy of Centre-Line’s latest self released album “A Virtual Joyride”, a highly enjoyable recording that features much of the material that we heard tonight on the latest date of a UK tour in support of the album.

Although van den Berg is the main composer on the record the album was actually recorded nearly two years ago and the other three members have subsequently become more involved in the writing process-as tonight’s set revealed. Centre-Line’s music is a brand of intelligent fusion and the album is given a distinctive feel by van den Berg’s use of the Akai EWI 4000 on four of the ten pieces. I’ve never really been that convinced by the EWI and had largely dismissed as a 70’s/80’s abomination. Even such great players as Wayne Shorter and Michael Brecker failed to truly deliver on what I increasingly came to dismiss as a novelty instrument. However I found myself re-evaluating when hearing van den Berg on this album, maybe the technology has moved on but I found his playing of the instrument both interesting and convincing. There was therefore a certain irony in the fact that tonight his EWI had given him technical problems during the sound check, constantly going out of tune, and he’d therefore resigned himself to doing the whole gig on the tenor. I only found this out after speaking to Altman afterwards (of course we talked football too) and during the set I’d been waiting patiently for the beast to make an appearance and was rather disappointed when it didn’t. Ironic really after what I’ve just written about it, maybe it knew I was coming. 

Not that the EWI’s no show was a disaster, van den Berg is a monster tenor player with a huge sound and an astonishing degree of stamina that belies his rather bookish appearance (rather like his protégé Duncan Eagles from Partikel, in fact). Van den Berg’s solos were often stunningly fluent marathon affairs driven by his co-leader’s crisp, rock accented drumming, Harvey’s propulsive electric bass and Franks’ consistently inventive guitar chording. 

They began with “Saturday”, van den Berg’s surging album opener which featured the first of several epic tenor solos followed by a strong contribution of his own from Franks and a series of drum breaks from the powerful Altman, here playing in a very different style to that exhibited behind vocalist Hughes. His bass drum is decorated with Tottenham Hotspur’s famous cockerel motif, not much doubt where his footballing loyalties lie!

“Virtual Joyride” itself is a Franks composition full of adventurous harmonic contours based around what sounded like an insistent sly reference to the standard “Fly Me To The Moon”. After a typically lengthy, probing van den Berg tenor solo Franks took over, his soloing here as elsewhere a beguiling mix of jazz agility and intelligence and rock timbres. Franks is a guitarist who uses his rock influences and effects, particularly the sustain pedal, wisely and effectively and his playing, whether as soloist or accompanist was consistently engrossing. His clever chording and comping underpinned many solos including Harvey’s bubbling excursion on his distinctive six string electric bass. 

Also from the album van den Berg’s “Jez’s Birthday”, named in honour of his band mate was a two parter that began atmospherically with a lengthy solo tenor sax intro with Franks later adding guitar sound-washes to Altman’s mallet rumbles. I’d guess that this was more or less freely improvised as the album version comprises entirely of what here formed the second part of the piece. Buoyed by Harvey’s elastic bass groove the mood was suitably celebratory with the birthday boy himself producing a suitably exultant guitar solo. 

The next item lowered the temperature a little, a kind of fusion ballad from the pen of Altman (the title of which I didn’t quite catch) with solos from van den Berg, Harvey and Franks who adopted a clean, picked guitar sound.

After this pause for breath Harvey’s high octane funk tune “Gracie’s House” closed the first set on an energetic note with van den Berg’s powerful tenor solo contrasting nicely with Franks’ slyly witty contribution. Composer Harvey also ensured that he got to strut his stuff with an effervescent bass solo.

The second set saw the quartet stretching out even further on four extended work outs including two tunes from the album and two newer pieces. From the record van den Berg’s Latin inflected “Emblissi” included memorable solos from both Franks and the composer. The album version includes van den Berg’s use of the EWI but this live version was equally as effective.

Also from the record the saxophonist’s “Boy With Nails In His Eyes” takes its title from a Tim Burton poem and represents one of the album’s outstanding cuts. After van den Berg had stated theme franks soloed inventively above the martial chatter of Altman’s drums. As on the previous item the recorded version makes use of the EWI but here van den Berg dug in on tenor to deliver his most expansive and powerful solo of the night. Terrific stuff.

Harvey’s “The Ride” was cut from the same funk template as the first set’s “Gracie’s House”. Once again Harvey’s percolating bass grooves set the pace with solos coming from the composer and Franks at the guitar. There was also a drum feature from Altman as Van den berg took something of a back seat, no doubt enjoying a welcome set after his marathon sax excursion on the previous piece.

The evening concluded with an as yet unrecorded van den berg tune entitled “In Pursuit”. Following customarily strong solos from van den Berg and Franks the piece concluded with a stunning sax and drums duet between the co-leaders which seemed to embody the close knit musical relationship between the pair, a partnership that dates back to 1993 when Van den berg and Altman were both studying at Leeds College of Music. The democratic nature of the partnership was also emphasised by the way in which van den Berg acted as announcer for the first set with Altman taking over for the second (perhaps appropriately, he’s also a voiceover artist).

Not that Centre-Line is just about it’s co-leaders, Franks’ contribution is also vital. His intelligent, consistently inventive and highly personalised guitar style is a big factor in the group’s success. With Harvey supplying the funk factor and also emerging as a composer this is a well drilled unit with plenty to recommend it.

With the EWI taking an unscheduled sabbatical tonight’s set was more straight-ahead (relatively) than had been expected but was none the worse for that. The group are still on tour (remaining dates below) and their energetic show is well worth seeing, the playing both punchy and intelligent. The album “A Virtual Joyride” represents a good concert souvenir but is also an eminently satisfying record in its own right. Hopefully it will sell well throughout the current tour. Remaining dates are as follows.
   

February 16th - Café Jazz, Cardiff.
February 17th - The Bebop Club, Bristol
February 24th - The Meeting House, Illminster
February 26th - 7Arts - Leeds. Lunchtime

March
March 6th - Annies, Leigh on Sea
March 15th - Jazz Steps, Nottingham
March 22nd - Teignmouth Jazz
March 23rd - Torfaen Jazz Society, Pontypool, Wales
March 29th - HX7 Jazz, Hebden Bridge

http://www.centrelinemusic.com

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