The young pianist Gwilym Simcock is very much the “man of the moment” on the British jazz scene so it was a considerable coup for The Edge to host this performance. Following on from the hugely successful Tord Gustavsen concert in October here was evidence of the The Edge’s growing importance as a venue for quality jazz.

Simcock’s performance was part of a national tour to promote the excellent album “Perception” (Basho Records), his long awaited debut recording as a leader. Tonight’s concert featured the core trio from the record with Simcock appearing with young bassist Phil Donkin and the masterful drummer Martin France. They played entirely acoustically-no amps, mikes or pick ups-an approach shared by one of Simcock’s other groups, the “chamber jazz” ensemble Acoustic Triangle led by bassist Malcolm Creese.

The trio commenced with “Almost Moment”, a title drawn from the new album. This was a quiet and atmospheric opener featuring Simcock’s ghostly tinklings and which also saw him making use of the instrument’s innards. France’s percussion provided the perfect accompaniment; his attention to detail was a feature of his playing throughout the evening.

A solo bass passage by Donkin provided the bridge to “A Typical Affair”, the opening track from “Perception”.  An up tempo number this began with a Latin vamp before giving way to a bravura solo from Simcock.The pianist’s cascading runs were supported by the clatter and chatter of France’s drums and the solid but supple bass of Donkin. Donkin also found time to make a fluent solo statement of his own.

Next came the standard “My One And Only Love”, the closing track on Simcock’s album. This elegant reading of the tune was book ended by passages of solo piano from Simcock. Besides being an excellent improviser he is also fully trained as a classical musician and these sensibilities frequently find their way into his ballad playing as evidenced here. The sonorous tones of Donkin’s bass were also once again featured in a solo context.

“Message”, also from the album, had featured in the master class the trio had given for local students in the afternoon. In concert it was introduced by a lengthy introduction for solo bass that gave Donkin the opportunity to demonstrate the full range of his instrument and his control of it. After the introduction of piano and drums the bass continued to be at the heart of the music, sharing melodic duties with the piano. France’s delicate brushwork enhanced the mood perfectly.

To close the first half the trio looked away from the album to deliver a robust version of the old Charles Mingus classic “Nostalgia In Times Square”. The trio certainly did justice to this great tune with a romping solo from Simcock followed by a drum feature for the stick wielding France and finally a solo from the dextrous Donkin.

The second set began with another album track in the form of the trio’s playfully fast take of Jerome Kern’s “The Way You Look Tonight”. I love their version of this tune but I did detect one or two dissenting comments.

This was followed by Simcock’s beautiful ballad “And Then She Was Gone”. I would guess that Simcock is particularly proud of this one. It appears not only on “Perception” but also on “Reverence”, the recent trio album recorded under the leadership of drummer Spike Wells and featuring Simcock and bassist Malcolm Creese. The tune also forms part of the Acoustic Triangle repertoire and featured in their recent concert in Cheltenham. The version here featured the sumptuous piano of the composer-initially unaccompanied- and more deft brushwork from the excellent France. An innately musical drummer France has appeared on over fifty recordings and always seems to be at home in any context. He’s one of those musicians I could happily listen to (and watch) all day.

“Spring Step” reintroduced the playful element and featured a dialogue between piano and drums over Donkin’s insistent bass vamp.

Simcock then introduced a new and as yet untitled composition. Broadly situated in ballad territory this featured a delicate melody that was suitably embellished by Simcock’s limpid piano.

The trio returned to the standards repertoire for the closing “How Deep Is The Ocean”. Their energetic rendering of the song featured a dazzling piano solo from Simcock. He was followed by Donkin and finally came a series of sizzling drum breaks from France.

A capacity audience at The Edge applauded rapturously and called them back for more. The group responded with an exploration of the standard “All The Things You Are” in a style reminiscent of Keith Jarrett’s Standards Trio.

Jarrett is one of Simcock’s major inspirations and if his influence predominated tonight especially on the standards then the spirit of another of Simcock’s heroes guitarist Pat Metheny comes out on the “Perception” album.

Here the line up is augmented on a number of tracks by the venerable British saxophonist Stan Sulzmann, guitarist John Parricelli and percussionist Ben Bryant.
Simcock’s originals such as “Sneaky”, “Affinity” and the cinematic “Time And Tide” feature attractive melodies and are clearly influenced by Metheny’s compositional style.

This is not meant as a criticism-“Perception” is a remarkably wide ranging and impressive debut that features Simcock in various contexts from solo piano (“Voices”, “My One And Only Love”) through the trio numbers featured in tonight’s concert to full sextet. He writes great tunes, is a phenomenal soloist and has enlisted a great line up to play on his album and at only 27 there must be even greater things to come. Oh yes, and he’s a nice guy too.

“Perception” is released on Basho Records (SRCD 24-2) and is accompanied by a highly informative booklet.

See http://www.bashorecords.com and www.gwilymsimcock.com for further details of the album, live dates etc.

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