City of Poets, Dempsey’s, Cardiff, 23/09/2014.

City of Poets is an all star Franco-American quintet co-led by French pianist Cedric Hanriot and American trumpeter Jason Palmer. The heavyweight line-up is completed by tenor saxophonist Donny McCaslin, bassist Michael Janisch and drummer Clarence Penn. Dempsey’s was privileged and honoured to host a band of this quality at their only UK date outside London on a short US and European tour supported by the French-American Cultural exchange and the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. 

The prospect of seeing musicians of the calibre of McCaslin and Penn in a club environment was irresistible and Dempsey’s was fuller than I’ve ever seen it with seemingly every student from the Jazz course at the nearby Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in attendance, including some wide eyed first years at the start of freshers week. It all made for a quite fantastic atmosphere, one that encouraged these five very talented musicians to perform with an unfettered brilliance that saw them individually and collectively responding to the situation and upping their game. 

On the face of it the concept of the City of Poets project appeared to be a little dry and academic. Hanriot and Palmer had co-composed a suite, “The Hyperion Suite”, inspired by the works of cult science fiction writer Dan Simmons (born 1948) with melodies based on the “Seven Modes of Limited Transposition” created by the French composer Oliver Messiaen (1908-92), the latter an increasingly significant influence on contemporary jazz musicians. Palmer explained something of this in his introduction to the music and I think it’s fair to say that following this the audience were pleasantly surprised by just how fresh and vital, and indeed “hot”, this music sounded. There was nothing stilted or stuffy about the playing and some of the soloing was positively incandescent.

With the exception of Hanriot these were all musicians with whom I was familiar. Palmer and Penn toured as part of Janisch’s “Purpose Built” band back in 2009. Palmer also played on that recording,  an album that I consider to be one of the most important UK jazz releases in recent years. “Purpose Built” is not only a significant artistic achievement in its own right, containing as it does some excellent Janisch tunes and arrangements, but it also pioneered the spirit of Trans-Atlantic collaboration that has distinguished the output of Janisch’s increasingly prolific Whirlwind record label. Whirlwind is one of the great success stories of British jazz and this was the album that started it all off.

I’d also seen Penn playing alongside McCaslin as part of trumpeter Dave Douglas’ band at the Everyman Theatre as part of the 2009 Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Both performed brilliantly in a set that was the undisputed highlight of the entire festival weekend .

Meanwhile Hanriot has worked with a whole list of illustrious Americans including bassists Esperanza Spalding, John Pattitucci and Christian McBride, drummer Terri Lyne Carrington, pianists Herbie Hancock, Robert Glasper, Danilo Perez and George Duke plus vocalist Dianne Reeves. It’s an impressive CV and with his performance in Cardiff Hanriot more than lived up to his credentials.

In the true spirit of jazz the quintet didn’t play the pieces in the order in which Messiaen had originally written them, in any case they were only intended as a guide by which to translate Simmons’ stories into original and improvised music. Thus the performance actually began with “The Seventh Mode” , introduced by Janisch on solo bass, later joined by Penn’s cymbal splashes before Palmer and McCaslin stated the theme. It was the saxophonist who took the first solo, probing gently at first before becoming increasingly impassioned, yet never sacrificing his trademark fluency. McCaslin is a major soloist whose playing can also sometimes be heard enriching the already impressive ensemble sound of the Maria Schneider Orchestra. Palmer followed on the trumpet, a player with the look of a young Miles Davis and a technique to match. Next we heard from Hanriot, his expansive solo becoming increasingly percussive as he entered into a lively dialogue with Penn, the drummer deploying one of the largest kits I’ve ever seen at Dempsey’s. Penn’s playing was crisp, powerful and relentlessly inventive throughout the evening. Finally it was left to the horns to re-state the theme of a piece that had highlighted the individual talents of the quintet yet had also been an impressive collective statement.

“Mode No. 2” was introduced by Penn at the drums and saw Janisch moving to electric bass to lay down a muscular but joyous groove that helped to fuel a barnstorming tenor solo from McCaslin.The saxophonist’s molten improvising was complemented by Penn’s similarly volcanic drumming.Thrilling stuff.

Solo piano introduced the “Fourth Mode” which saw Janisch back on acoustic bass. McCaslin again took the first solo but this time the real fireworks came from Palmer with some dramatic high register trumpeting. Meanwhile Janisch and Penn gleefully negotiated their way around some fearsomely tricky signatures, the respect and rapport between the two rhythm players was obvious throughout, these are two musicians who clearly relish working together.

A high octane first set closed with the “Fifth Mode” which combined a playful theme with hard driving rhythms and incorporated fiery and fluent solos from McCaslin and Palmer either side of an explosive Penn drum feature.

This had been a first half that left both the musicians and the audience breathless but exhilarated and there was a palpable buzz around Dempsey’s during the interval. Promoter Brenda O’Brien had declared herself as being “very happy” about bringing this band to Cardiff - and on this evidence you could understand why. 

If McCaslin had emerged as the main soloist in the first set then the second saw the co-leaders fulfilling a greater role. The soft and airy theme of “Mode Six” saw Penn initially deploying brushes to accompany solos from Janisch and Palmer, the trumpeter adding the odd sly quote to his solo. The later exchanges between Janisch and Penn again impressed, theirs is one of the most formidable rhythm pairings in contemporary jazz.

The “First Mode” came mid way through the second set, the introductory horn fanfares underpinned by the rolling thunder of Penn’s drums. Palmer took the first solo, his trumpeting wonderfully bright, fluent and iridescent. Hanriot also shone in a series of brilliant duo exchanges with McCaslin,  the pianist’s playing becoming increasingly fiery and percussive as Penn and Janisch also pitched in, his technique borrowing from both Thelonious Monk and Cecil Taylor. It was the first time the Frenchman had truly cut loose and the Cardiff audience clearly loved it. The piece was resolved with a restatement of the theme by the horns followed by a gently discursive trumpet/tenor duet.

Hanriot was clearly ‘up for it’ by now and his solo intro to the closing “Third Mode” saw him scrabbling about under the lid, deploying prepared piano techniques and generally utilising the entire instrument. He also took the final solo following outings from Palmer on trumpet and Janisch on electric bass.

The atmosphere at Dempsey’s had been highly charged throughout with thunderous applause, plus whooping and hollering, following every solo. The whole club rose to give the quintet a standing ovation, something I don’t think I’ve ever seen at Dempsey’s before.

Naturally an encore was inevitable, this proving to be an extended work out on Sonny Rollins’ classic “Airegin” that somebody timed as lasting twenty three minutes - or one side of an LP. Everybody took the chance to stretch out, Janisch ushering the piece in on solo double bass before the two horns played the hook. Next up was an epic, Coltrane-esque tenor solo from McCaslin, mainly delivered in saxophone trio mode as a grinning Hanriot battled with the urge to join in. This was a tour de force that left everybody drained but begging for more.  Palmer almost matched him with some brilliant trumpeting, including an inspired duet with Janisch’s bass. Hanriot finally got his chance on an extended piano trio excursion that incorporated sparkling dialogues with both Janisch and Penn followed by extended bass and drum features. This was wildly exciting stuff with some audience members comparing it to Jazz at the Philharmonic. 

Congratulations to Brenda O’Brien and Alistair McMurchie for bringing this band to Dempsey’s. Thanks too, to fellow blogger and Jazzwise contributor Jon Turney who had travelled over from Bristol and let my wife and I share his table. It was also Jon who spotted acclaimed Brit drummer James Maddren in the audience, no doubt checking out Mr Penn.

Thanks also to Michael Janisch and Donny McCaslin for taking the time to chat with me. Michael informed me that the quintet’s show at London’s Pizza Express Jazz Club the night before had been recorded with a view to release on Whirlwind in 2015. That’s something everybody who was at Dempsey’s tonight will be looking forward to.
Meanwhile Donny gave me a copy of his latest album release, “Casting For Gravity”, a quartet recording featuring Jason Lindner (keyboards), Tim Lefebvre (electric bass) and Mark Guiliana (drums) that I intend to take a look at very shortly. 

This was one of the classic Dempsey’s nights that will be remembered in Cardiff and beyond for many years to come.