John-Paul Muir

“Home Now”

(Ubuntu Music UBU0178)

John-Paul Muir – piano, Brigitte Beraha – voice, George Crowley – bass clarinet, tenor saxophone, Jakub Cywinski – double bass, Eric Ford – drums

Released in November 2024 “Home Now” is the second album release from the New Zealand born, London based pianist and composer John-Paul Muir.

Muir first established himself as a classical pianist in his native New Zealand and was a frequent award winner, the accolades including First Prize at the New Zealand Young Performer of the Year Awards (2006), First Prize at the New Zealand National Concerto Competition (20090 and First Prize at the Kerikeri International Piano Competition (2010).

He came to London to study with Senior Professor Joan Havill at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama where he began focussing more fully on jazz and improvisation.

His debut album was 2020’s “The Cornerstone Suite”, a solo piano recording that combined his classical heritage with his more recent jazz influences. It’s a beautiful album that can be purchased from Muir’s Bandcamp page in both digital and vinyl formats. Also available is the digital only track “Rita’s Waltz”, another solo piano piece issued in 2023.
https://johnpaulmuir.bandcamp.com/music

Muir is also the Senior Programme Manager of the Bloomsbury Festival, an annual ten day arts festival held in October featuring over one hundred events across various venues in the London district of Bloomsbury. He has also established a weekly jazz night in Bloomsbury at Goodenough College, where his regular appearances feature an ever-evolving cast of UK and international guest musicians.

Muir’s latest release “Home Now” is more obviously a jazz recording than its predecessors and features a hand picked ensemble featuring some of London’s leading jazz musicians, including vocalist Brigitte Beraha, the supremely versatile multi-reeds player George Crowley and a rhythm section featuring bassist Jakub Cywinski and Partikel drummer Eric Ford. It’s very much an all star cast.

Three of the five compositions on the album feature lyrics written by the writer and neuroscientist Anjali Bhat, with Beraha, one of the UK’s most consistently creative vocalists, breathing musical life into Bhat’s words.

Muir says of his new recording;
“The compositions that make up ‘Home Now’ are often imbued with warmth and highlight some of the experiences of being human that are hard to describe. They came about naturally over a period of several years, reflecting both my collaboration with Anjali and my writing, finding its voice in a sort of ‘chamber jazz’ that encompasses my classical roots alongside improvisation and a movement towards a European jazz sound. I’ve always loved Brigitte’s musicianship, and her sound and intuitive approach to the songs is everything and more than I could have dreamt. George, Jakub, and Eric are all incredibly versatile musicians who instinctively feel this music and it is truly a joy for me to bring this music to life with them.”

The album commences with “Sunlight”, the first of Muir’s collaborations with lyricist Bhat. The extended unaccompanied piano introduction is sparse, spacious and beautiful and alludes to Muir’s classical past. Subsequently he is joined by Beraha, who sings Bhat’s sensuous and evocative lyrics with great feeling and sensitivity. When Crowley joins in on bass clarinet it’s rather like listening to the great trio of Norma Winstone, John Taylor and Tony Coe. Fans of Norma’s magnificent ECM album “Somewhere Called Home” will surely love this.

Of the album’s title track Muir comments;
“‘Home Now’ paints a picture of waking up in a new and exciting city, and simultaneously feeling a nostalgic pull from the past; ultimately finding a sense of place and home within that isn’t necessarily tied to a physical space. It is a good representation of the way the record shines a light on some very specific yet hard to describe aspects of human experience. It also showcases my collaboration with lyricist Anjali Bhat and the compositional style that I have arrived at after a journey collecting inspiration from many stops along the way. The record is imbued with the warmth and joy of that arrival”.

Once more the piece is introduced by the sound of unaccompanied piano with Beraha’s vocals soon added. Once again the singer brings Bhat’s already poetic and evocative lyrics to vivid life. More space is allotted to the instrumentalists this time round with Crowley soloing expansively and fluently on bass clarinet, accompanied by piano, double bass and brushed drums. Cywinski is also featured with a melodic bass solo before Muir demonstrates his wide ranging lyricism at the piano.  Beraha returns to deliver the final verses, before breaking away to soar wordlessly in conjunction with Crowley’s bass clarinet, these two given musical wings by the momentum imparted by Muir and the rhythm section.

The last of the vocal items is “Silent Acknowledgement”, another collaboration between Muir and Bhat. Again the piece is introduced by a passage of classically influenced solo piano, with both Chopin and Bill Evans having been suggested as influences on Muir’s sound. As on the opening “Sunlight” Bhat’s lyrics represent a perceptive and evocative portrayal of human romantic relationships, the qualities of the words enhanced by Beraha’s wistful vocals. The verses are punctuated by a bass clarinet solo from Crowley, who performs with great sensitivity throughout.

The final two items are instrumental compositions performed in a quartet format with Crowley moving to tenor saxophone. However the overall mood remains reflective and lyrical and very much in keeping with the earlier vocal performances. “Balm” is a ballad that commences in now familiar fashion with a passage of unaccompanied piano and which features the soft sound of Crowley’s breathy tenor sax and Cywinski’s melodic double bass. Ford, such a busy and dynamic drummer when with Partikel, plays with an admirable restraint and sensitivity throughout, utilising brushes at first before moving to sticks as Crowley and Muir eventually stretch out more expansively, with the music eventually taking on something of an anthemic quality. Having reached an emotional and dynamic peak the piece resolves itself with a more gentle and gradual fade. It’s a piece that has made something of an impression on the wider music scene and which has been featured by Cerys Matthews on BBC Radio 6.

The last track on the album is “Overjoyed”, a delightful jazz waltz with subtle gospel flavourings that sounds suitably beatific. Crowley’s warm tenor sax sound is complemented by Cywinski’s dexterous and melodic double bass soloing and the leader’s expansive lyricism at the piano. Finally Crowley’s sax emerges again to soar joyously as the music gathers momentum behind him. Ford gravitates between brushes and sticks and turns in another finely nuanced performance behind the kit, which culminates in something of a feature towards the close as he is finally given his head.

Muir’s first genuine jazz recording is an impressive piece of work. The concept of presenting the vocal pieces and instrumental compositions almost as separate entities, rather than alternating them in the running order as many artists would probably have done, works well. A prevailing mood of wistfulness runs through the three songs and it’s for the best that these are heard back to back, thus ensuring that the beguiling spell cast by Beraha and the instrumentalists is not broken.
Similarly the instrumental items work well when heard sequenced together. They are slightly more celebratory in feel, especially “Overjoyed”, but they still fit well with the overall ‘chamber jazz’ aesthetic of the album.

Muir impresses as a fluent pianist and as a thoughtful and intelligent composer who has established an excellent rapport with his lyricist partner Bhat. Crowley, Cywinski and Ford buy fully into Muir’s musical vision and all perform superbly throughout. Praise is also due to the engineering team of Stefano Civetta and Bobby Williams at School Farm Studio for the quality of the recorded sound, which is consistently excellent and allows all the performers to be heard at their best.

“Home Now” represents a convincing artistic statement from Muir that showcases several sides of his impressive all round musical talent.

 

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