Blue Touch Paper

“Drawing Breath”

(Provocateur Records PVC1043)

I first heard the playing of Colin Towns back in my youth when he was the keyboard player in Gillan, the hard rock/heavy metal outfit led by former Deep Purple vocalist Ian Gillan. But the scholarly Towns proved himself to be far more than just a rocker as he diversified into the worlds of jazz and big bands plus film, theatre and TV composition. As well as being a talented piano and keyboard player Towns is a superlative composer, orchestrator and arranger . He has worked with some of Europe’s most respected big bands including the Hamburg based NDR Big Band and led his own Mask Orchestra with whom he recorded half a dozen albums.

In some ways Blue Touch Paper represents a return to roots for Towns. This high powered sextet is essentially a “fusion” band in which Towns plays both piano and electric keyboards but the quality of the writing, which draws freely on Towns’ work in other fields, ensures that the music is intelligent and varied and full of good ideas. The group’s first album “Stand Well Back” was very well received and the sextet also built up an impressive reputation for the quality and excitement of their live performances.

Towns has retained the personnel that made “Stand Well Back” such a success. The international, cross generational line up includes Troyka’s Chris Montague on guitars and ex Loose Tube and current Polar Bear member Mark Lockheart on tenor and soprano saxophones. Edward MacLean is on bass and Benny Greb at the drums with the percussion and electronics of Stephan Maass representing something of a wild card element. It’s a phenomenally talented line up and the music they make is dense, busy and just bursting with ideas. Apparently the album took some six months to make, an age in jazz terms, and the rock style production is sleek and polished with Towns making judicious use of sampled voices and electronics in his arrangements. 

Things get off to a great start with the aptly titled “Attention Seeker”, a turbo charged slice of sophisticated fusion featuring, MacLean’s funk grooves, Montague’s searing guitar work and Lockheart’s surprisingly bellicose reeds. Maass’ percussion adds a certain exotica and Towns’ writing offers a greater degree of light and shade than would normally associate with the genre. An impressive start.

The sheer breadth of Towns’ vision is perhaps best expressed by the sprawling “Isadora”, at just under eleven minutes arguably the album’s centrepiece. The tune goes through a myriad of stylistic and dynamic changes and is almost symphonic in its scope building from Towns’ gently melodic piano intro into via Montague’s guitar atmospherics into Lockheart’s incisive and exotic soprano solo. There are episodes of dazzlingly sharp ensemble passages clearly influenced by Towns’ writing for cinema with Lockheart making an equally telling contribution on tenor and the composer sparkling on piano. Somehow we end with a massed vocal chorus that seems to blend elements of klezmer with the Red Army Choir. All in all quite a journey.

“Heaven” represents a brief palette cleanser, the piece representing the love theme from “Tatort-Dinge die noch zu tun sind”, a Towns commission for German television. It’s a glacially beautiful duet for saxophone and piano the acts as a prelude to “Suddenly A Tango” which does almost exactly what it says on the tin and includes further excellent work from Lockheart. Towns’ keyboards and Montague’s guitar bring a contemporary twist to the tango elements with Maas’ percussion adding extra spice to an already tasty brew.

The air of exotica continues with the flamenco flavourings of “Juggling With Strangers”. The arrangement is paced by Towns’ piano and includes features for Lockheart on coolly incisive soprano and MacLean on languidly liquid electric bass.

“The Joke” is as much fun as its title suggests, strident, raucous and often funky whilst at times sounding like deranged circus music. It’s a terrific ensemble piece that also contains a series of hugely entertaining cameos for piano, reeds, bass and guitar, the latter packing an enjoyably heavy punch. The piece includes sampled vocals as does the following “Fair Is Foul” which features actors reciting words from Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”. The music is ethereal and atmospheric, conjuring up images of blasted heaths and swirling mists with Lockheart’s reeds an essential part of the arrangement alongside the dramatic choral vocals of Hedydd Dylan, Antonia Kinlay and Katie Elin-Salt. An animated film has been produced to accompany the track with Towns working with animator and director Michael tang. The film can be viewed on the band’s website http://www.bluetouchpaper.com 

“Watch Out” marks a return to funky territory with MacLean and Greb laying down a mighty groove which provides the backdrop to some dazzling ensemble passages, plus cameos for Lockheart on bellicose tenor and Montague on turbo charged guitar with a lengthy percussion feature for Maass mid tune. Towns’ piano and keyboards weave in and out of the arrangement with consummate skill.

The title track is insistent and unsettling, the uneasy atmosphere exaggerated by the use of sampled vocals. Lockheart is again in uncompromising mood on tenor and Montague’s sustain drenched guitar soars above the relentless rhythms, combining with Towns’ keyboards to create a kind of epic grandeur.

“Neon Shadows” merges impressionism with funky bass lines to give a noirish effect clearly inspired by Towns’ writing for the cinema. Lockheart’s wispy, sinuous soprano is prominent in the arrangement alongside more powerful passages that make liberal use of electronica. 

The busy and insistent “Yes But No” also seems to derive inspiration from film music. Latin percussion drives the song with Montague and Lockheart also making their presence felt. Towns’ keyboards briefly threaten to steer the tune in another direction and in latter stages there’s a brief but funky cameo from MacLean. Hard driving but full of good ideas this piece is terrific fun.

The intriguingly titled “48 Prefabs and Forks No.60” concludes the album and it proves to be just as rich and varied as its predecessors with Towns making extensive use of samples and cut up techniques. Simultaneously combining an air of mystery with an epic grandiosity Towns and his colleagues sign off a very good album in style.

If there’s a criticism to be made of “Drawing Breath” it’s that it’s almost too full of ideas. This is busy, intense, constantly changing music that despite the fusion trappings makes considerable demands on the listener, sometimes it’s a challenge just trying to keep up. But it’s a challenge that I, and many other listeners, will relish, the sheer outpouring of ideas and juxtaposition of styles recalls composers such as Frank Zappa and Django Bates. Brilliant musicianship and sophisticated production values ensure that this is an album to be enjoyed as well as admired. Towns certainly believes in keeping his audience on their toes and the group’s short UK tour scheduled for the spring of 2014 will be keenly anticipated and should create quite a stir.Dates announced thus far are;

24 February 2014 - LONDON, The Vortex Jazz Club http://www.vortexjazz.co.uk / 020 7254 4097

25 February 2014 - SOUTHAMPTON, Turner Sims http://www.turnersims.co.uk / 023 8059 5151

27 February 2014 - KENDAL, Brewery Arts Centre http://www.breweryarts.co.uk / 01539 725 133

28 February 2014 - MANCHESTER, Band on the Wall http://www.bandonthewall.org / 0845 2 500 500

1 March 2014 - LIVERPOOL, The Capstone Theatre http://www.thecapstonetheatre.com / 0844 8000 410

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