Greg Sterland / Sabina Turvey Quartet, Brecon Jazz Club, The Muse Arts Centre, Brecon, 08/10/2024.

Greg Sterland – tenor saxophone, Sabina Turvey – piano, Pasquale Votino – double bass, Liz Exell- drums.

Brecon Jazz Club’s October event presented a new quartet co-led by tenor saxophonist Greg Sterland and pianist Sabina Turvey, both graduates, albeit of different vintages, of the Jazz Course at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (RWCMD) in Cardiff.

I first saw Sterland play as far back as 2012 when he was part of the RWCMD Jazz Ensemble that visited the Black Mountain Jazz Club in nearby Abergavenny in the company of guest trumpeter Gethin Liddington. Still a student in those days he was one of the outstanding soloists in an ensemble that included a number of other musicians who have since become nationally known, among them bassist Huw V Williams and drummer Rod Oughton.

More recently Sterland has appeared on the Jazzmann web pages on numerous occasions as a member of Duski, the electro-jazz ensemble led by Cardiff based bassist and composer Aidan Thorne. The albums “Duski” (2016) and “Make A Wish” (2020) are both reviewed on these web pages as are a number of the group’s live performances at Black Mountain Jazz and at the now closed but much missed Queens Head in Monmouth.

The duo of Thorne and Sterland, working under the Duski name, released the album “Pillow Talk Sessions 1” in 2021, a series of short improvised double bass and tenor sax duets. The full Duski line up has also released the digital only live recording “Live At Cafe Jazz”,  first released in 2021 but documenting a Cardiff live performance from 2014.

Sterland has previously visited Brecon a member of groups led by the Japanese pianist and composer Atsuko Shimada, appearing with her at a Club night in 2015 and at Brecon Jazz Festival in 2019.

Now based in Bristol Sterland leads his own groups, continues to be a member of Duski and also works with such musicians as trumpeter Jonny Bruce, trombonist Joe Bradford and pianist Alex Veitch. He is due to visit Black Mountain Jazz with Bradford’s quintet on October 27th 2024. The Jazzmann will be there to cover this event.

Co-leader Sabina Turvey graduated from RWCMD more recently and is still based in Cardiff. She plays piano and electric bass and is an in demand player of both instruments. In her role as a keyboard player she appeared as part of the Cardiff based Latin ensemble Fiesta Resistance at Brecon Jazz Festival’s Family Jazz & Dance Day at Brecon County Showground in 2023. This was a high energy performance that was well received by the audience as a whole and which attracted a considerable number of dancers to the floor. The versatile Turvey has also handled bass duties for Fiesta Resistance as circumstances have demanded.

She has worked extensively on the South Wales jazz scene in the company of such experienced musicians as saxophonist Glen Manby, pianist Dave Jones and drummer Ian Thomas. She also works with musicians in her peer group such as saxophonist Coren Sithers, pianist Elliot Warburton and bassist Ross Thomas.

Turvey is also a composer and we were to hear one of her pieces tonight, alongside a brace of originals from Sterland and a well chosen selection of jazz standards. Announcements were shared between the co-leaders, with the more experienced Sterland acting as the primary spokesperson.

As Sterland explained tonight’s quartet was effectively the result of “two duos coming together”. He and the Italian born bassist Pasquale Votino work regularly together in bands on the Bristol jazz scene. Meanwhile Turvey and Exell have worked together in various South Walian groups. However tonight was the first time that the members of this quartet had actually performed together of a unit. Such was the quality of the playing and the chemistry between the musicians that one would never have guessed.

“Are you going to announce the first tune?” asked Lynne Gornall of Brecon Jazz as she introduced the band. “We’ll let the music speak for itself” replied Sterland, somewhat enigmatically. It was left to bass and drums to usher in the first piece, soon joined by sax and piano in a freely structured intro that embraced a very contemporary sound and involved the four members listening very intently to each other. Eventually something more conventional emerged out of this adventurous intro as Sterland launched into the theme of the Cole Porter composition “I Love You”, developing this into the first solo of the night. He was followed by Turvey at the venue’s upright acoustic piano and then by Votino on double bass. Votino’s bass solo evolved into a dialogue with Exell, who was also featured in a series of drum breaks towards the close.

The Steve Swallow composition “Remember” represented a favourite piece for all the band members. It was introduced by a passage of unaccompanied piano from Turvey and evolved into a kind of abstract ballad with Exell gravitating between brushes and sticks as the music required. Sterland’s brief theme statement was followed by a thoughtful piano solo from Turvey with, the saxophonist taking over the soloing as the music began to gather momentum.

A lively Miles Davis inspired version of “If I Were A Bell” upped the energy levels with Turvey’s chiming piano intro followed by Sterland’s statement of the main theme. As this uptempo number barrelled along all four musicians were featured as soloists.

There was a change of pace with a performance of the rarely heard Johnny Mandel song “You Are There”. Introduced by the duo of Turvey and Sterland this was a beautiful performance that featured the sounds of breathy tenor sax, lyrical piano and delicate brushwork, with Exell’s exquisite cymbal playing a notable feature as she entered into a dialogue with Turvey during the course of the pianists solo.

An excellent first set concluded with an arrangement of the Sam Rivers tune “Beatrice”, a composition that has become something of a modern standard. Following Sterland’s theme statement Turvey’s solo revealed a more percussive side to her playing. Sterland then took over on tenor before handing over to Votino, whose bass solo was complemented by Exell’s drum commentary. The piece was concluded by a brief but well constructed drum feature from Exell, followed by Sterland’s restatement of the main theme.

The second set saw the co-leaders bringing some of their own compositions to the bandstand. First we heard “Annabelle”, a tune written by Sterland in 2010 during his student days and first played with a band featuring pianist Joe Webb and alto saxophonist Dan Smith. Rather than a young lady the song is named for Sterland’s car of the time, a white Renault Clio. Largely a showcase for the leader’s tenor this was a tune that still sounded good fourteen years on, with tonight’s performance including another drum feature from Exell. Its inclusion was perhaps a tongue in cheek reference to the 2024 Brecon Jazz Festival when Sterland had been scheduled to co-lead a band fronted by Cardiff based vocalist Dionne Bennett. Sterland’s car broke down on route and he had to be towed back to Bristol, his place on the bandstand being filled by dep Coren Sithers. Sterland was keen to point out that the vehicle in question wasn’t the long departed “Annabelle”!

Next up another Sterland original, although in this case it might be reasonable to describe it as a ‘contrafact’. This was a piece based on Charlie Parker’s “Anthropology” that Sterland had rather cleverly dubbed “Anthro-apology”, on account of adding “lots of horrible notes” to Parker’s tune. Sounding authentically be-boppish the piece fairly steamed along, fuelled by Votino’s propulsive bass lines and Exell’s crisp drumming. Sterland delivered a marathon tenor sax solo and was followed by Turvey on piano and Votino at the bass. Exell then traded fours with Turvey and Sterland before the saxophonist returned for a second bite of the apple. This high energy group performance was particularly well received by a large and supportive crowd at The Muse.

By way of contrast the next item was a delightful performance of the Carla Bley composition “Lawns” that perfectly captured Carla’s quirky and melodic lyricism. With Exell deploying brushes both Turvey and Sterland delivered beautiful solos. It represented a complete contrast to the previous piece, but was just as warmly received.

Turvey had the unenviable task of having to follow this with her own composition “Roads”. Introduced by the duo of piano and tenor sax it proved to be just as lovely as “Lawns” with Exell later complementing the sounds of the co-leaders with mallet rumbles and cymbal shimmers. Subsequent sax and piano solos continued to receive sympathetic support from bass and drums on a lyrical and atmospheric piece that highlighted Turvey’s abilities as a composer. By her own admission she is a perfectionist who does not always bring her compositional ideas to completion. On the evidence of this beautiful tune she really should try to write more.

Having already introduced us to a rarely heard Johnny Mandel song Sterland now called a similarly obscure Gershwin song titled “Soon”. This commenced as a ballad with Sterland stating the main theme and taking the first solo with Votino and Exell imparting the music with a gentle swing. Turvey followed on piano and then Votino on the bass, again complemented by Exell’s brushed drum commentary.

This was an unexpectedly gentle way to conclude a performance that had certainly exceeded my expectations and which had also been warmly applauded by all present at The Muse. Little encouragement was needed from Lynne Gornall for the quartet to play a deserved encore. This saw them upping the energy levels again with a joyous version of “Bye Bye Blackbird”, which included solo features from all four musicians.

Tonight’s performance from a newly constituted quartet surpassed the usual ‘all star jam’ and included some excellent playing from all four participants, with the individual musicians quickly gelling to create a coherent unit. It was good to hear some intelligent and imaginative individual writing, even if one of the tunes was actually a contrafact. The selection of outside material represented a good mix of the familiar and the lesser known and it was a highly convincing performance all round, one that was warmly appreciated by a pleasingly large and very knowledgeable audience at The Muse that included three visitors from Chile who were on a cycling holiday touring around South Wales. All big jazz fans they had seen tonight’s gig advertised and decided to sample some live music while they were staying in Brecon. They enjoyed themselves immensely and were made very welcome by Brecon Jazz Club and its audience. Fortunately their English was very good (unlike my Spanish) and I very much enjoyed making their acquaintance and we have since exchanged email addresses and will continue to keep in touch. If any proof were needed that jazz is a truly international language this must be it. Thank you guys, enjoy the rest of your holiday in Wales.

 

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