Delta Saxophone Quartet with Gwilym Simcock

“Crimson!”

(Basho Records SRCD 50-2)

The Delta Saxophone Quartet is a long running ensemble led by baritone saxophonist Chris Caldwell. Although nominally a classical ensemble the group has always had a very contemporary edge and has explored the music of minimalist composers such as Gavin Bryars, Philip Glass, Michael Nyman, Terry Riley and Steve Reich plus the contemporary British composers Graham Fitkin and the late Steve Martland. Indeed several of the members of DSQ were once part of Martland’s band.

In 2007 DSQ released the album “Dedicated to You” which saw them re-imagining the music of the progressive rock group Soft Machine. That project was the obvious forerunner of this current release which finds them exploring the music of King Crimson in the company of the supremely versatile pianist Gwilym Simcock, a musician whose playing transcends the jazz, classical and rock genres.

Rather improbably DSQ’s collaboration with Simcock initially came about due to the shared love of Simcock and Caldwell for Stoke City Football Club. The saxophone quartet celebrated their 30th anniversary in 2014 and commissioned both Simcock and Mark Anthony-Turnage to write new music for the group.

Simcock and DSQ found common ground in the music of King Crimson with Simcock arranging five pieces from the Crimson back catalogue as well as composing the Crimson inspired original “A Kind of Red”. The music was premièred in Milan and subsequently given its first British airing at the Guildford Festival in 2015.

Simcock’s Crimson connection came from his tenure with ex Crimson drummer Bill Bruford’s Earthworks group. However it was only with this commission that he immersed himself fully in the Crim’s back catalogue, eventually selecting pieces from three different Crimson eras.

In the album’s liner notes Simcock speaks of the challenges of arranging Crimson’s notoriously complex (for rock music) compositions for four horns plus piano. The four members of DSQ are well suited to tackling music that straddles the boundaries of jazz, classical and rock. Alto player Pete Whyman and soprano saxophonist both have impressive jazz pedigrees with Whyman having performed extensively with jazz composer Mike Westbrook’s band. Westbrook has also written a commission for DSQ.

Meanwhile Australian born Blevins has played in bands led by bassists Kyle Eastwood and Geoff Gascoyne and drummer Dylan Howe. Tenor saxophonist Tim Holmes was once a member of the jazz sax quartet Itchy Fingers and is also an experienced classical and session musician.

Being of a certain age I grew up with the music of the early incarnations of King Crimson during the 1970s although I have to admit to being less familiar with the group’s later work. A number of the pieces adapted by Simcock were originally songs with lyrics by either Adrian Belew or Richard Palmer-James, but the words and the vocals were never the King’s strongest suit and, perhaps wisely, the ensemble make no attempt to tackle them here.

The album commences with Simcock’s Crimson inspired original “A Kind of Red”, the title a homage to both Miles Davis and what is arguably Crimson’s best and most consistent album, the mighty “Red” from 1974. Despite the absence of bass and drums the first thing that strikes the listener is how full and rhythmic the ensemble sound is. As evidenced on “Good Days at Schloss Elmau”, his solo piano album for the German label ACT, Simcock’s left hand is a formidable rhythmic component. Here it’s allied to the sound of a saxophone quartet who have honed their rhythmic chops playing the music of Martland and the minimalists. DSQ are capable of generating an impressive rhythmic drive in their own right. Simcock and the sax quartet sound perfectly integrated on this opening piece which explores Simcock’s love of rhythm and harmony, “ I was quite keen to make sure that the roles were divided up so that it’s not just the top voice playing the tune and the bottom one playing the bass line” he explains. It’s an approach that works well and the interplay between the four reeds plus piano sounds both vigorous and totally organic. There are cameos for the individual instruments but basically this is a superb ensemble performance with five top quality musicians engaged in animated and absorbing dialogue.

“VROOM/Coda; Marine 475” first appeared on Crimson’s 1995 album “Thrak”. Simcock and the saxophonists have great fun tackling the complexities of its hooks and riffs but with the menacing, hard driving passages punctuated by more lyrical, almost baroque interludes. Again it’s another superb piece of ensemble playing, dense, urgent and tightly knit. Orthodox solos are unusual for this aggregation but the Nyman-esque ‘coda’ of the piece features a rollicking Simcock piano solo above a rhythmic saxophonic vamp.

The next piece comes from the period of Crimson history that I am personally most familiar with. “The Night Watch” first appeared on the Crims’ 1974 album “Starless and Bible Black”, the album title a nod in turn to Dylan Thomas. As I recall the original began with a passage of group improvisation recorded at a concert in Amsterdam, this finally seguing into the song itself written by guitarist Robert Fripp and bassist/vocalist John Wetton with lyrics by Palmer-James. In Simcock’s arrangement the freely structured intro recalls Crimson’s improvisation before coalescing to showcase the gorgeous melodicism of the song itself with Blevins’ soprano sax taking the role filled by Fripp’s searingly liquid electric guitar. Simcock’s use of baroque motifs and counterpoint references Palmer-James’ lyric, inspired by Rembrandt’s painting “The Night Watch”. 

Simcock brings a new blues feel to “Dinosaur”, the second piece to be culled from the “Thrak” album. The title is a self mocking dig at Crimson themselves; Fripp himself described the group as a “dinosaur band” at the time of what then seemed to be their final dissolution back in 1974. It was arguably the first use of a phrase that was subsequently to be used to denigrate and ridicule prog rockers in general.
However all this represents something of a digression. Simcock’s arrangement is a thing of beauty, showcasing the sometimes lugubrious melody in all its glory but adding plenty of ideas of his own. The razor sharp interplay between the pianist and the four saxophonists is superb throughout and Simcock also gets to enjoy himself with a rumbustious passage of blues inflected solo piano mid tune as the piece progresses through a number of distinct phases. Great stuff. 

“Two Hands” comes from Crimson’s 80’s repertoire and the album “Beat”, released in 1982. The piece represents one of Crimson’s gentler offerings and Simcock presents it as a yearning, lyrical ballad subtly underscored by a percussive effect that I presume is generated by the patter of saxophone keys. The overall effect is surprisingly soothing and really rather lovely.

The album concludes in barnstorming fashion with an interpretation of the song “The Great Deceiver” which opens the 1974 album “Starless and Bible Black”. Massed saxes and rumbling low end piano recreate the power of the theme and the intensity of Wetton’s vocal but there’s plenty of subtlety in the medieval style counterpoint that Simcock also introduces.

“Crimson!” represents an impressive piece of work from Simcock and the Deltas. Simcock’s arrangements are colourful and imaginative and he finds plenty of new things to sat within the structures of this venerable material. The playing is superb throughout and the rapport between the DSQ and their illustrious guest is vital and palpable, a genuine group chemistry. As a result the music is vibrant and exciting, often surprisingly full on, and far from being a mere academic exercise.

Nevertheless one is left wondering just what this combination could have come up with if they’d chosen to go for an entire programme of original music, as good and exciting as this stuff is. At the back of the listener’s mind there’s still the doubt, the question, “it’s all very good and very clever, but ultimately what’s the point?”. Perhaps it’s just me but I always have a sneaking ambivalence regarding these kind of projects. Maybe I should just accept this album for what it is and appreciate its considerable virtues – of which there are many. A musician as talented as Gwilym Simcock is never going to come up with a ‘bad’ record.

One thing listening to this music is likely to do is send me back to the King Crimson catalogue with a fresh eye. Which is probably no bad thing.

 
 

 

 

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