Impossible Conversations, Music Spoken Here, The Marr’s Bar, Worcester, 13/02/2025.

Louis Hamilton-Foad – drums, Gabriel Amann – trumpet, Ben Carter – alto sax, Alex Smith – keyboards, Sam Sharpe – electric bass

Following two hugely successful and well attended performances by Trypl and Jazz Kayser’s Chums Music Spoken Here’s third event of 2025 drew yet another substantial audience to The Marr’s Bar for this exciting performance from the dynamic young quintet Impossible Conversations.

The band is led by drummer and composer Louis Hamilton-Foad (pictured), who also works as a freelance sound engineer. Twenty one year old Hamilton-Foad is the son of guitarist Paul Foad and the grandson of the late, great Andy Hamilton (1918-2012), the Jamaican born saxophonist who became a Birmingham jazz institution before achieving wider national recognition comparatively late in life with the release of the albums “Silvershine” (1991) and “Jamaica By Night” (1994). Hamilton also founded the still ongoing jazz club in Bearwood, Smethwick, which currently operates under the stewardship of Hamilton-Foad’s parents using the name Silvershine Jazz at The Bear Tavern. It was here that the young Louis played his first gigs and where Impossible Conversations recorded their single “19 ; 58”.

Andy Hamilton was a leading figure with regard to musical education in Birmingham and both Hamilton-Foad and Impossible Conversations trumpeter Gabriel Amann learnt their skills in student bands such as The Notebenders and The Blue Notes that had been founded by Andy.

Gabriel Amann also has an impressive musical pedigree, being the son of Birmingham based pianist and composer Tim Amann, a leading figure of many years standing on the Midlands jazz scene. Tim Amann appeared at an MSH event at The Marr’s Bar in July 2024 as part of the band Butcher’s Brew, led by trumpeter and composer Ray Butcher. This was an excellent show that is reviewed elsewhere on this site.

Hamilton-Foad divides his time between his sound engineering work and his drumming, having recently worked in the latter capacity with the great Soweto Kinch.

His main creative outlet is the quintet Impossible Conversations, a group of young lions based in Birmingham, some of whom, notably saxophonist Ben carter, are graduates of the Jazz Course at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. Cater is also a composer and band leader in his own right and his impressive debut album “Pulsar” is reviewed elsewhere on these pages, as is a live show by his quintet at the Corn Exchange Jazz Club in Ross-on-Wye in May 2024.

Hamilton-Foad’s musical tastes are admirably broad and include jazz, rock, funk, reggae and hip hop and many of these elements feed into the music of Impossible Conversations. Tonight’s show was a big deal for such a young band and they were very clearly ‘up for it’.

I suspect that they had rehearsed pretty intensively in preparation for tonight, such was the level of ‘chops’ on display. The individual skills of the players was never in doubt but the quintet was admirably well drilled and cohesive and also supremely funky, courtesy of the turbo-charged rhythm section of Hamilton-Foad and bassist Sam Sharpe, aided by keyboard player Alex Smith. Amann and Carter proved to be fluent, punchy and incisive soloists as the quintet performed a well chosen programme that featured a mix of band originals with compositions from some of Hamilton-Foad’s key influences, among them Kenny Garrett, Kamasi Washington, Roy Hargrove, Wayne Shorter, Freddie Hubbard, Christian Scott, Venna and the American rapper JID.

Impossible Conversations was formed in 2022 and played its first gig at the Silvershine Jazz Club. As far as I can ascertain the band name comes from the title of the non-fiction book “How to Have Impossible Conversations” by Peter Boghossian and James Lindsay, but the group moniker does not convey any great significance, it’s a particularly resonant phrase that was chosen as a band name by Hamilton-Foad almost at random at the time of that first gig.

2025 is shaping up to be a big year for Impossible Conversations. Following a successful appearance at the 2024 Mostly Jazz Funk and Soul Festival and this visit to The Marr’s Bar they have further high profile shows lined up at Peggy’s Skylight in Nottingham, Matt & Phred’s in Manchester and The Blue Piano in Birmingham.

Tonight’s opening tune, “Venice Nights”, was ushered in by Smith’s lush and atmospheric keyboard soundscapes, over which Hamilton-Foad and Sharpe began to establish a splendidly funky drums and bass groove, this in turn the vehicle for Amann’s strident trumpet melodies. Carter then joined to add saxophone counter melodies, the two horns dovetailing and exchanging phrases above a punchy, fusion style groove. Carter was the first featured soloist on alto, powerful and fluent and playing in a style that variously recalled Kenny Garrett and the late, great David Sanborn. Sharpe followed on five string electric bass with a virtuoso solo that served notice of his considerable abilities. He may be comparatively little known at the moment,  but he’s a real monster of a bass player.

The leader’s drums introduced an inventive, funked up arrangement of the Wayne Shorter composition “Footprints”, a tune that has become something of a modern jazz standard. A unison theme statement from the horns was followed by further sax and trumpet interplay before Amann emerged as a soloist, also displaying the combined qualities of fluency and power, these encouraged by propulsive bass grooves and the leader’s sturdy backbeat. Smith stepped out of the shadows with a keyboard solo that featured a classic electric piano or ‘Rhodes’ sound. Sharpe, very much the band’s secret weapon, was again featured as a soloist, this time deploying a wah wah bass sound. Hamilton-Foad’s drumming was then featured prominently in the closing section.

The brief but blazingly frenetic “Crazy Race” was written by the late, great trumpeter Roy Hargrove (1969 – 2018) and was a composition that was very aptly named. The quintet fairly romped through it, commencing with a dazzling passage of unaccompanied horn interplay, followed by a short but explosive passage featuring more incendiary horn interplay accompanied by similarly explosive rhythms.

The band original “Orca” calmed things down a little with the horns adopting a softer sound and Hamilton-Foad initially deploying mallets. However an irresistible underlying funkiness remained that gradually found greater expression during the solos from Amann on trumpet and Smith at the keyboard, the latter adopting a hybrid of acoustic and electric piano sounds. That funkiness eventually came into full bloom as the quintet skilfully continued to ramp up the tension, culminating in a flamboyant bass solo from Sharpe, who was beginning to emerge as the group’s showman – alongside the leader of course.

A confident band leader and announcer of tunes Hamilton-Foad had also established his credentials as a powerful and technically accomplished drummer, a veritable whirlwind of activity behind the kit, but still capable of an admirable subtlety when the music required it, as demonstrated by his performance on “Orca”.

It was the leader’s drums that introduced Kamasi Washington’s “Fist of Fury”, a stirring call to arms featuring a powerful two horn unison ‘head’ followed by incisive individual solos from both Carter and Amann.

Washington’s music embraces the cusp between jazz and hip hop and the final piece of the first half reached even deeper into hip hop territory. This was “Sistanem” by the Atlanta born rapper JID. Combining hip hop elements with the quintet’s inherent funkiness this was more of an ensemble piece and featured the carousing of the horns above some heavy duty bass and drum grooves.

This ended an excellent first set that was very warmly received by the denizens of the Marr’s Bar. Young bands featuring students or recent graduates can sometimes be a little hesitant and reserved, but there was nothing tentative about this quintet’s performance. The band was assured and confident and the standard of the razor sharp playing exceptional. This was a gig that was comfortably exceeding my initial expectations and I very much got the impression that everybody else in the room was also similarly impressed. When signing off Hamilton-Foad promised us even more fireworks in the second half and he and the band certainly didn’t disappoint.

Set two commenced with “West to The West”, written by the American trumpeter Christian Scott, another hard grooving, highly rhythmic offering featuring solos from Carter on alto and Sharpe on electric bass. Sharpe’s exchanges with Hamilton-Foad then evolved into a full on drum feature from the leader.

“Mount Shasta”, written by the South London saxophonist and producer Venna, was introduced by Smith at the keyboard, with bass and drums added to provide a slow groove combining funk and hip hop elements. This acted as the vehicle for horn solos from both Carter and Amann.

Following the performance of “Crazy Race” in the first set it was wholly appropriate that the Kenny Garrett tune “Hargrove” should appear in the second. Written by the saxophonist as a tribute to the late trumpeter the propulsive grooves generated by Hamilton-Foad, Sharpe and Smith fuelled solos from Amann and Carter, with each horn player subtly shadowing the other during the course of their respective solos.

The original “19; 58” was recorded as a single at the Silvershine Club and tonight represented the quintet’s most hard driving, funky offering yet. A dynamic drum led intro followed by exuberant unison horn melodies fed into a blazing Amann trumpet solo, followed by further features from Hamilton-Foad and Carter.

“Happiness Is Now” was written by Freddie Hubbard and appeared on the late trumpeter’s 1980 album “Skagly”. Recorded during Hubbard’s funk and fusion period this uplifting and fiercely rhythmic tune was a perfect fit for Impossible Conversations and was introduced by Sharpe’s slapped bass, establishing a stop-start funk groove that provided the impetus for solos from Amann on trumpet and Smith at the keyboard, the latter adopting a funky ‘Rhodes’ sound.

It was appropriate that an excellent second set should end with a second Kamasi Washington tune, “Final Thoughts. This was was ushered in by an unaccompanied fanfare from the horns, with bass, drums and eventually keyboards added. Concise solos from Amann and Carter were followed by a dynamic drum feature from the leader as the performance ended with a high energy flourish.

The reaction from the audience was the most ecstatic that I’ve seen in nearly two years of coming to the Marr’s Bar for MSH events. This exciting young band had totally captured the crowd with their fiery playing and confident stage presence.

The deserved encore was Kenny Garrett’s “Wayne’s Thang”, a tribute to Wayne Shorter that again tied in neatly with the performance of “Footprints” in the first set. Introduced by Sharpe at the bass this triumphant final performance combined a funk style groove with farewell solos from all five band members, a great way to round off what had been an exceptional evening of music from five brilliant young musicians.

The audience was totally blown away by Impossible Conversations and this is a band with the potential and the ability to reach out a wider audience – provided they get the necessary exposure of course. Music Spoken Here is doing its bit in this regard, with the ongoing Upbeat! series featuring drummer led bands giving a welcome platform to young bands such as Impossible Conversations, Jaz Kayser’s Chums and the upcoming Miranda Radford Quartet.

Hamilton-Foad hopes to make further recordings featuring the band’s original compositions and as alluded to above has further gigs scheduled later in the year. This really is an exceptional young band, led by a technically accomplished drummer who possesses the necessary intelligence and confidence to take this project to the next level. Let’s hope the word continues to spread about Impossible Conversations, they really do deserve to succeed – and remember you read about them here first. They exhibit the same degree of skill and confidence – chutzpah, if you will -  that Ezra Collective, another drummer led band,  did when I saw them for the very first time, some ten years before their Mercury Music Prize win.

My thanks to Louis and Ben for speaking with me after the show and to Louis for providing me with a set list, which has proved invaluable in the writing of this review.

This was one of the best and one of the most most dynamic performances that I have ever seen from such a young band. Look out for Impossible Conversations, this is a band that really deserves to take off in a big way.

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