The young Cardiff based pianist Dave Stapleton has emerged as one of the busiest figures on the UK jazz scene. Besides running his working band, the highly acclaimed Dave Stapleton Quintet (or DSQ) he has also been involved in a number of special projects. These have included the free improv quartet Full Circle, a church organ/saxophone duet with Deri Roberts and a twin piano project with the remarkable Matthew Bourne.

Stapleton also has a sound business head on his shoulders and has ensured that his music gets out there and heard. Initially he set up his own Red Eye label subsequently followed by his current outlet the Edition label which he runs with the acclaimed jazz photographer Tim Dickeson. As a result Stapleton has recorded prolifically releasing two DSQ albums “When Life Was In Black And White” and “The House Always Wins” plus “Explorations” with Full Circle, “The Conway Suite” with Roberts and “Dismantling The Waterfall” with Bourne. Edition has also recorded other artists among them Paula Gardiner, Kevin Figes and the trio Bourne/Davis/Kane.

“Catching Sunlight” is something of an amalgam of Stapleton’s approaches. Born out of a special project the finished article also has something of the character of the quintet. In 2007 Stapleton was commissioned to write a work for the new music group the Lunar Saxophone Quartet for four saxes and piano. As the piece grew Stapleton decided to expand the ensemble adding the DSQ rhythm section of Paula Gardiner (bass) and Elliot Bennett (drums) together with guest trumpet soloist Neil Yates. The result is a rich, densely layered and multi hued suite of music with a strong cinematic quality. Not for nothing is the album subtitled “Music For An Imaginary Film”. But there is nothing ambient or wishy washy about this music. Yes, there are impressionistic episodes but the trademark “cerebral funk” of the DSQ is also present and correct courtesy of Stapleton, Gardiner and Bennett and Yates’ playing is a delight throughout.

The eleven pieces contained on the album each take their titles from lines in the poem “Stalking The Vision” by poet and vocalist Julie Tippetts. Indeed Tippetts contributed both her voice and her lyrics to the song “Aquamarine” on the DSQ album “The House Always Wins”. Here she remains unheard, adding inspiration only.

The album commences with the brooding “Treading The Earth” which introduces the voices of the ensemble. Yates’ trumpet sound contains echoes of Miles Davis, Arve Henrikson and maybe Nils Petter Molvaer but he still imposes his own personality on the music. He has matured into an excellent player with an awesome technique that draws on folk influences as well as the more obvious jazz antecedents.

The Lunar Saxophone Quartet fill an essentially textural role, adding colour to the ensemble passages and operating as a unit. They comprise of Joel Garthwaite (soprano), Hannah Riches (alto), Lewis Evans (tenor) and Lauren Hamer (baritone). Jazz soloing is not their business but their role in the overall success of the project is pivotal.

Stapleton is a superb pianist whether underpinning a band with his percussive chording or soloing mercurially. He is also capable of great lyricism as displayed on impressionistic pieces such as “A Shady Mantle”. As evidenced by this album and by his previous releases it is also clear that he is one of the UK’s most talented and ambitious young jazz composers and arrangers.

The experienced Gardiner and the rapidly maturing Bennett combine with Stapleton to form a formidable rhythm team. Relaxed and flexible they are capable of creating a powerful if somewhat cerebral groove on the more up tempo pieces, the excellent “Shimmers” for example.
Stapleton’s writing is rich and colourful and passes through many variations of mood and pace, sometimes in the course of a single piece, “Stepping Out” or the serpentine title track for instance. There are stately tone poems such as “Willow Fringe” and “Beyond The Horizon” which reveal the saxophone quartet at their best interspersed with more robust DSQ style items such as “Dancing Round Rocks” and “Stalking The Vision”

But the writing is as kaleidoscopic as the land and sea scapes that inspired Tippett’s titles. “Catching Sunlight” is aptly named and is one of those albums that reveals new secrets with each listening. It’s blend of jazz, classical and folk influences is consistently absorbing and it’s a great team effort.
However if the compositional plaudits go to Stapleton then Yates takes the instrumental honours with some of his finest playing yet on record.

The ensemble officially launch the album at Dempsey’s, Cardiff on Tuesday 18th November 2008.See http://www.davestapleton.com for details.

blog comments powered by Disqus