Jon Lloyd and John Law

“Naissance”

(33 Jazz 33JAZZ304)

Jon Lloyd – tenor & soprano saxophones, John Law – piano, electronic samples

Released in June 2024 this duo recording featuring the talents of saxophonist Jon Lloyd and pianist John Law was kindly given to me for review purposes on the occasion of a gig by the Jon Lloyd Quartet at Black Mountain Jazz in Abergavenny in July 2024.

The Lloyd quartet currently features Law on piano, Nick Pini on double bass and Alex Goodyear at the drums.  This line up gave a brilliant performance at Abergavenny, their music inspired by a European jazz aesthetic as exemplified by the ECM record label. Largely sourced from Lloyd’s latest album “Earth Songs” this was a performance that combined genuine beauty with a quiet intensity, resulting in a music that was possessed of a genuine spiritual quality. The immersive quality of this contemplative, gently questing music drew every member of the audience into the quartet’s distinctive sound world, resulting in a truly memorable musical experience for band members and listeners alike. My full review of this magical performance, which includes a further look at the “Earth Songs” album,  can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/jon-lloyds-european-quartet-black-mountain-jazz-melville-centre-abergavenny-28-07-2024

Considering that Lloyd (born 1958) is a comparative veteran of the UK jazz scene and has been recording since 1990 it’s rather surprising that the occasion of the Abergavenny show was the first time that I had really undertaken a detailed review of his music.

I’m much more familiar with the oeuvre of John Law, a musician whose playing I first discovered at another Black Mountain Jazz gig featuring his ‘Art of Sound’ trio way back in 2009. Law has subsequently featured on the Jazzmann web pages on multiple occasions and with a variety of line ups, including his Congregation and Re-Creations groups,  both on disc and in live performance. There are too many reviews featuring Law for me to cross-reference them all here, but do please search the site if you want to read more about this versatile and highly talented musician and composer.

The Jon Lloyd Quartet performance at Abergavenny included full band versions of a number of tracks that can be heard on “Naissance”, notably the Lloyd compositions “Cidron” and “For Stan”.

Although the “Naissance” recording features compositions by both Lloyd and Law the album has its roots in Law’s project “Renaissance”. Featuring the duo of Lloyd and Law and with Law’s son Jasper providing additional electronics the “Renaissance” album was a recording of a 2022 live performance at Malmesbury Abbey with the duo performing a set of compositions by Law that were inspired by Renaissance vocal music, Augmented by visuals the “Renaissance” project was performed at numerous cathedrals and other religious spaces throughout the UK.

In his album notes for “Naissance” Law writes of how the Renaissance project and his subsequent involvement with the Lloyd Quartet has transformed his own music making. He speaks warmly of Lloyd’s “pared down compositions” with their focus on “beauty and simplicity” and of how they have helped him to “find a new simplicity in both harmony and melodic line”.

Meanwhile for Lloyd the Renaissance project led to him re-acquainting himself with the tenor saxophone after years of specialising on soprano.

Three of Law’s compositions from the Renaissance project, “Miserere”, “Lamentations” and “Stabat” are revisited here, with the pianist supplying a further three pieces specifically written for this duo recording. Lloyd supplies a total of four pieces, tunes that were written for the quartet but were ultimately omitted from “Earth Songs”.

It’s Lloyd’s album notes that perhaps best summarise the duo’s intimate approach to the ten pieces that constitute this recording;
“In ‘Naissance’ we use different musical starting points to establish a specific sound world for each piece, and then improvise together within that world. It’s essentially a musical conversation. We are really doing what we have always done, since the start. The difference is what we use as source material, and that now we’re thinking much more creatively about how this material can develop. I would say that we are actually freer now than at any time. The absence of dense clusters of atonality, or the lack of explosive, expressive energy that was present in our earlier music is not because we have ruled that out. We just don’t need to do it!”

The ‘ECM aesthetic’ has already been mentioned in reference to Lloyd’s quartet and that sensibility is very much present again in this series of unhurried, carefully developed performances. The sound quality is immaculate throughout, with Lloyd and Law assisting the production team of engineer Damon Sawyer and producer and label boss Paul Jolly. Thanks to Law’s cover design it even looks like an ECM record!

The album commences with Lloyd’s composition “Cidron”, one of the pieces that was played in quartet form at Abergavenny. Featuring the sounds of breathy tenor sax allied to gently rippling piano arpeggios the piece evolves slowly and organically, the overall mood lyrical and reflective, but with Law probing more deeply as his piano solo progresses, exploring the full range of the keyboard and even adding the occasional moment of wilful dissonance. Lloyd remains unruffled throughout, always calm and Zen-like.

“Mode 1”, a Law original written specifically for this project,  features Lloyd’s echoed soprano sax and makes judicious use of prepared piano techniques. The mood is quietly exploratory, the gently piping ululations of Law’s sax underpinned by a delicate lattice of piano generated sounds. Lloyd’s playing is occasionally reminiscent of Jan Garbarek, a pretty obvious comparison I’ll admit.

“Miserere”, the first piece to have also appeared on the Renaissance project, includes electronic backing samples created by Jasper Law. These are sensitively deployed alongside Lloyd’s wispy soprano sax melodies and Law’s arpeggiated piano lines.

Lloyd’s composition “Meta” is revisited in quartet form on “Earth Songs”  as “Meta Meta”. It’s recognisable as essentially the same tune and this duo version sees Lloyd returning to tenor on what is primarily a melodic and lyrical piece. Nevertheless one solo piano passage sees Law achieving considerable levels of intensity as he probes deeply.

Also by Lloyd the composition “For Stan” was another piece performed in the quartet format at Abergavenny.  It is dedicated to the cellist Stan Adler, a musician with whom Lloyd once worked. The composer reverts to soprano sax, his oboe like sound sometimes reminiscent of Paul McCandless of the group Oregon. Lloyd probes more deeply as the piece progresses, eventually handing over to Law for a solo piano episode.

“Lamentations” originally appeared on the “Renaissance” album and is the second piece to feature samples created by Jasper Law. Here Lloyd and John Law improvise above a backdrop of renaissance vocal samples with Law’s insistent piano vamp providing the rhythmic impetus for Lloyd’s melodic tenor sax meditations. Law subsequently takes over for another absorbing passage of unaccompanied piano that again demonstrates his prodigious, classically honed technique. With Lloyd restored to the fold the piece concludes with Jasper’s samples again entering the mix.

Lloyd’s composition “Where Roses Are” features the warm sound of the composer’s tenor sax and represents a perfect example of the saxophonist’s pared down compositional approach. The focus is on melody, simplicity and beauty with Lloyd’s pensive sax meditations underpinned by Law’s gentle piano arpeggios. There is no over elaboration by either player, this is beautiful music that has been distilled to its very essence.

The mood is continued into Law’s “Mode 2”, another piece to feature the distinctive sound of Lloyd’s tenor and the composer’s use of arpeggiated piano motifs, although this time Law stretches out a little further, again demonstrating his classically honed technique. The production again incorporates the judicious use of echo and one can also imagine the music of “Naissance” being performed in religious spaces.

This observation links in neatly with “Stabat”, the last of the three pieces to have previously featured on “Renaissance” and the last to feature the samples created by Jasper Law. Again the duo improvise to a backdrop of renaissance vocal samples, to which Jasper has also added a subtle drum pulse which helps to give the music rhythmic momentum. This is further enhanced by John Law’s piano, which provides both rhythm and melody. Lloyd delays his entrance but when his soprano does eventually appear it dances joyously like rays of light refracted through stained glass windows. Nevertheless the music still retains the meditative quality that is characteristic of the album as a whole.

The album concludes with Law’s composition “Fingernail Moon”, a gently lyrical piece that embodies the kind of bucolic and pastoral beauty suggested by its title. The composer’s piano takes the lead and Law’s playing on this piece represents some of his most beautiful playing of the entire set. It’s enhanced by the fragile, gently plaintive sound of Lloyd’s tenor in a performance that encapsulates the duo’s search for “beauty and simplicity”.

The album was recorded over the course of a single day in October 2023 with Law commenting “I knew, as soon as we completed that one day in the studio, that it was really special. Subsequently we worked extremely hard on the sound, to make everything exactly as we wanted and imagined it to be”.

“Naissance” is a triumph for both musicians and for their production team as they successfully realise their stated objectives. This is music that consistently delivers the beauty that the performers aspire to and the mix of jazz and classical music influences gel together to create a consistent and coherent whole. The debt to ECM is obvious and readily acknowledged and fans of the label will find much to enjoy in the work of Lloyd and Law.

Other listeners may find it a little bloodless and miss the presence of bass and drums but “Naissance” succeeds brilliantly on its own terms and makes for beautiful and immersive listening if approached in the right spirit.

Like its predecessor “Renaissance” this is music that would provide maximum listener satisfaction if heard live in a church environment. There’s a haunting quality about this music and a palpable spiritual ambience.

 

 

 

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