George Crowley Quartet

Dempsey’s Cardiff 29/09/2010

I’ll admit that the young tenor saxophonist George Crowley was a new name to me, what really sold me the idea of attending this gig was the identity of his backing band the Kit Downes Trio. Pianist Downes and his young colleagues Calum Gourlay (double bass) and James Maddren (drums) were nominated for the 2010 Mercury Music Prize for their excellent album “Golden” (Basho Records). I also saw them play a brilliant gig at this year’s Cheltenham Jazz Festival, expanding upon the “Golden” material in a performance subsequently broadcast on Jazz On Three. The prospect of seeing the trio in another context, with a saxophone player out front, was too good to miss.

It was a strange night in Cardiff. An opening dinner for the Ryder Cup was taking place in Cardiff Castle directly opposite Dempsey’s, and a gala concert featuring Shirley Bassey and Katharine Jenkins was happening in the Millennium Stadium. I’ve no time for corporate sport or stadium music of any stripe, I love both sport and music but strictly on a human scale. The sight of hundreds of police, many of them on motor cycles left a sour taste in my mouth. Just how much was this corporate, Murdoch inspired beano costing the taxpayers of South Wales? At a time of government cutbacks with Arts bodies particularly badly hit and those supporting jazz suffering more than most I was proud to be going to Dempsey’s to support the music I love.

Right, rant over, but on a less serious note I did wonder if all the ballyhoo was for Kit and the boys, it is said that a Mercury nomination is one hell of a career booster! Not that you’d have thought so to start with. At first it looked as if this was going to be one of those soul destroying gigs when only about a dozen punters turn up. But suddenly there was a massive influx, mainly of students from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and suddenly the place was as full as I’ve seen it. In the end Crowley and his colleagues enjoyed a hugely successful gig.

Like his band mates Crowley is a graduate of the Royal Academy of Music and it came as no surprise to find him to be a highly talented player, not only with a good grasp of the tradition (he cites John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter and Warne Marsh as influences) but also with an awareness of modern developments in popular music. Crowley also seems to work regularly with members of the London based Loop Collective, an aggregation of young musicians who exhibit similar traits. He’s a talented composer too, and the programme consisted mainly of his tunes plus one Downes original and a couple of standards which included an encore of Billy Strayhorn’s “Isfahan”.

The quartet opened with Crowley’s “Marty McFly” which proved to be a good introduction to the members of the quartet. Conventionally structured it featured all four members of the band with Crowley soloing first, his long melodic phrases followed by Downes as Gourlay and Maddren provided an unwavering and propulsive rhythmic pulse. The rhythm team then stepped forward with Gourlay enjoying the first of several excellent solos and with Maddren providing a series of sparky drum breaks.

Downes’ tune followed, the working title of “D Minor” now replaced by the more descriptive “Bela Lugosi”. The piece appears on the new Neon Quartet album “Catch Me” which is due for release on October 18th on Edition Records, the line up also featuring saxophonist Stan Sulzmann, vibraphonist Jim Hart and drummer Tim Giles. I’ll be taking a look at the album in due course.
Introduced here by Crowley’s tenor sax the abstract, slightly sinister feel of the piece matched its title with solos coming from saxophone and piano, Downes sometimes reaching into the interior of the latter to pluck the strings.

Crowley’s love of more modern musical developments was apparent on “Embracing Ivo” (doubtless a dedication to young pianist Mr Neame), which he described as an “emo ballad”. This consisted of a beautifully lyrical tune with lovely solos from Crowley, Gourlay and Downes plus sympathetic brushed support from Maddren before a climactic final section incorporating a soaring sax solo above rock rhythms. If it had been transplanted to the Millennium it would have been a real lighter waver. Crowley preferred to refer to it as a “tear up section at the end”. In any event taken as a whole the piece was hugely effective. A version of it can be heard on Crowley’s myspace page under the title “Embracing Air”.

The following “Paper Universe” also deployed song like structures and exhibited a certain rock influence. Crowley’s tenor was muscular and there were also solos from Gourlay and Downes before an explosive drum feature from Maddren, the drummer circumnavigating his kit above Downes’ insistent piano vamping. This brought the first half to an end on a suitably energetic note and drew a great reception from the rapidly expanding audience.

The second half began with “B Flat Man”, a more freely structured piece incorporating solos from Crowley and Downes. Next up was a tune with the working title “Try Hard Wanker”,somehow I think it’s going to acquire a different name when Crowley goes into the recording studio. The tune itself marked a return to more song like writing with Crowley endeavouring once more to bring an anthemic feel to his music with himself and Downes as featured soloists.

“Still Life” was a kind of abstract ballad introduced by a haunting double bass/tenor saxophone duet with Crowley’s long breathy sax lines later joined by Downes’ delicate piano and Maddren’s softly brushed drums. As with “Embracing Ivo” the piece eventually erupted into an anthemic coda with Maddren picking up his sticks as Crowley soloed more powerfully.

Cole Porter’s “Everything I Love” provided the loose framework for a surprisingly energetic workout that incorporated a brilliant solo from Downes, his right hand performing some stunning pianistic gymnastics plus equally powerful statements from Crowley and Maddren. The drummer is often noted for the delicacy of his playing and there were moments of this tonight but in the Crowley group he seemed to relish the opportunity to really rattle the tubs on occasion.

At the prompting of gig organiser Brenda O’Brien the quartet returned for an encore, a deliciously delicate version of Billy Strayhorn’s “Isfahan” with solos from Crowley and Gourlay, the latter a fine example of controlled, lyrical, resonant double bass playing.

Crowley is due to take the group into the studios this coming weekend with a view to recording some of his tunes and bringing the result out on an EP. Given the creative abilities of this band I can envisage them coming out with a full length album. George Crowley is a highly talented young musician and composer and definitely a name to watch.

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