Geoff Eales

“Transience”

(Fuzzy Moon Records FUZ008)

The versatile pianist and composer Geoff Eales has been a regular presence on the Jazzmann web pages in recent years. I have reviewed recordings that have seen him performing in a variety of line ups and contexts ranging from solo acoustic piano “Invocations” (2014) to the fusion-esque electric five piece Isorhythm (“Shifting Sands”, 2011).

Elsewhere Eales has recorded with an orthodox piano trio featuring bassist Chris Laurence and drummer Martin France on the appropriately named “Master of the Game” from 2009. He has collaborated with the classical and flautist Andy Findon on the album “The Dancing Flute” while at the other end of the scale he has dipped a toe in free jazz waters with a collaborative trio featuring saxophonist Ben Waghorn and bassist Ashley John Long on the aptly titled “Free Flow”, recorded live at two separate performances at Dempsey’s in Cardiff in 2010/11. 

“Transience”, Eales latest album release, finds the Welsh born musician leading a new quintet, one that features former colleagues Laurence and France alongside Loose Tubes trumpeter Noel Langley and vocalist Brigitte Beraha.

Eales has described “Transience”, his thirteenth album release, as the most personal recording of his career. In his notes to the album he explains;
“Of all my albums this is the closest to my heart. Recorded seven months after my mother’s passing, my intense sense of loss has very much informed the emotional landscape of the music. Losing a loved one makes one realise just how precious, fragile and transient life is. Furthermore, in the last year we have lost so many musical luminaries, none more brilliant than those two beacons of infinite light – Kenny Wheeler and John Taylor. This has brought the sentiments of this album into even greater focus for me.”
The album is dedicated to the memories of Valerie Eales, Kenny Wheeler and John Taylor.

Lurence and France have both worked extensively with both Taylor and Wheeler making them natural choices for this project. Langley has been a long time admirer of Kenny Wheeler’s work and pays his own homage on Eales’ composition “Remembering Kenny”. 

“Transience” is the first album by Eales to feature the sound of the human voice. The Norma Winstone inspired singer Brigitte Beraha gives life to Eales’ words on some pieces as well as appearing as an accomplished wordless vocal improviser. One of the most accomplished and adventurous vocalists on the UK jazz scene Beraha released her début solo album “Flying Dreams” in 2008. She has also recorded in a duo setting with pianist John Turville (“Red Skies”, 2013) and work with the collaborative groups Babelfish and Solstice. She has also made guest appearances on a number of albums by other artists including Phronesis pianist Ivo Neame.

Eales’ notes also shed light on each of the twelve individual pieces. Not surprisingly the mood of the album is often sombre and reflective and Beraha’s Winstone-like vocal timbres are perfectly suited to the aesthetics of the music. This is exemplified on the opening piece “Sleep Eternal” which begins with the sound of a collective improvisation by the four instrumentalists, initiated by Eales at the piano and featuring the delicately melancholy sound of Langley’s flugel horn and France’s exquisite cymbal touches. This passage morphs almost imperceptibly into the song itself with Beraha intoning Eales’ words, written from the point of view of an elderly woman looking back on her childhood as she prepares for the inevitable. Beraha’s flexible vocals impart an elegant dignity to the lyrics as Laurence and Langley add suitably eloquent and lyrical instrumental solos.

The album is not all about loss and regret, the vivacious “Life Dance” incorporates Eastern European dance rhythms in three, five, seven and eleven and incorporates more agile soloing from Laurence, a musician who is also an acclaimed classical bassist. In this trio performance there is also a series of sparkling exchanges between Eales and the consistently excellent France. 

Beraha and Langley return for “Atonement”, a song that reflects on the subject of forgiveness with Eales’ liner note declaring “there is nothing as sweet as the tears that flow when conflict finally gives way to reconciliation”. The piece features Beraha’s voice both as a vehicle for Eales’ lyrics and as a wordless improviser. Langley’s flugel playing is sublime and there are also concise and lyrical solos from Laurence and Eales.

“Translucence” is a beautiful solo piano meditation that makes effective use of space with every note seeming to hang in the air. Eales speaks of the piece being “improvised from a blank canvas” and states that Langley placed a clock on the piano keyboard that wound down from two minutes to zero as Eales played. The ruse certainly appeared to work, focussing Eales’ mind and distilling his thoughts to their finest essence.

The full quintet appears on “We All Must Change”, a song whose lyrics reflect on the fragility of life and calls for a collective change of attitude, a contemporary plea for peace, love and understanding. Beraha is at her most Winstone like as she delivers the words and more. She shares the lead with solos from Laurence on bass and Langley on burnished flugel horn, plus Eales himself on piano, as France’s brushed drums wander in and out. 

“Transience” is released on pianist, composer and educator Issie Barratt’s Fuzzy Moon record label.  “Quirk Of Fate”, a celebratory trio performance speculates on the fact that if Eales and Langley had not both attended Barratt’s 50th Birthday Concert at London’s Kings Place then “Transience” might never have happened. Eales describes the piece as “a quirky, edgy blues, but just when we think it’s going to be a regular twelve bar fate throws a spanner in the works”. There’s some sparkling interplay between Eales, Laurence and France with both the bassist and drummer enjoying their individual features but the main emphasis is on the stunning group rapport which brings back fond memories of the “Master of The Game” album. 

The title of “Gently Into The Night” tips its hat in the direction of Eales’ fellow countryman Dylan.
However, in contrast to Thomas’ verse Eales’ lyrics treat death as a “welcome refuge from pain and suffering” and suggest that it is nothing to fear. The piece deploys some of the same compositional devices as the earlier “Life Dance”, particularly with regard to the asymmetrical rhythms, but the mood of this “lullaby” is very different with Beraha’s soothing vocal allied to Eales’ delicately lyrical piano and Langley’s softly valedictory flugelhorn.

“The Dark Glass” is the second of two improvised solo piano pieces. The title alludes to Corinthians, Chapter 13, Verse 1 “for now we see through a glass, darkly”. Like its predecessor, “Translucence”, it’s tantalisingly brief but the mood is less serene, darker, and slightly fractured.
It leads directly into “If Only”, the song’s title coming from the phrase that Eales’ father uttered repeatedly after Valerie’s death. The mood take its cue from “The Dark Glass” with Beraha asking a series of rhetorical questions as she duets effectively with Eales’ piano on this achingly sad piece.

“Nocturne” is a piece written by Eales that draws its inspiration from two of his mother’s favourite pieces of music, Chopin’s “Nocturne in E Flat Op. 9 No. 2” and the hymn tune “What A Friend We Have in Jesus”. Beginning as a solo piano piece it later expands to incorporate the rest of the band and includes a direct quote from the hymn written by Joseph M. Scriven and Charles C. Converse with Langley stating the melody and Beraha providing ethereal choir like vocals.

“Remembering Kenny” was written by Eales in response to Kenny Wheeler’s memorial service. A multi-sectional composition it embraces a variety of styles and moods and is something of a tour de force for Langley as he pays tribute to Wheeler on both trumpet and flugel. There’s also a superb piano solo from Eales, one of his most joyous of the set, and surely intended as a celebration of Wheeler’s life. Lawrence’s bass solo is more sombre but there’s also an exuberant solo from the brilliant France before a final trumpet valedictory.

The album concludes with the gentle gospel groove of “Celestial Vision”, a trio performance by Eales, Laurence and France. The music is intended to convey a spirit of “peace and salvation” and is, by turns reminiscent of Abdullah Ibrahim, Keith Jarrett and Tord Gustavsen. There’s a delightfully melodic bass solo from Laurence and France keeps things ticking along beautifully. Eales’ own playing with its light, sure touch is tastefulness personified.

Whichever context, configuration or style he’s playing in we’ve come to expect something special from Geoff Eales and this album is no exception. With its mix of solo, trio and quintet pieces it’s particularly well programmed and holds together well as a single entity. And despite the darkness of the subject matter the mood is not overwhelmingly bleak, instead the album ultimately become a celebration of life itself.Perhaps the quote by photographer Steven Cropper reproduced on the album packaging captures the feeling best;

“Stare wide- eyed at the world,
Preserve your sense of wonder,
Cherish all that is remarkable,
For turn around and it’s gone”.

For all his virtuosity Eales’ own playing is refreshingly ego free and he gives his colleagues plenty of room to express themselves. Everybody performs well with Langley’s contribution a particular delight. Eales also impresses as a lyricist, his highly personalised words are ideally suited to the nature of this project and Beraha conveys them with just the right amount of dignity and eloquence.

If there’s a fault it’s that it sometimes sounds a little too much like Norma Winstone and Kenny Wheeler for comfort, but bearing in mind that the latter is one of the album’s dedicatees perhaps that’s no bad thing. There also moments when this immaculately crafted album reminds me of the music of the Printmakers group co-led by Winstone and pianist Nikki Iles, again a comparison that could be taken as a recommendation.
   

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