Jon Lloyd’s European Quartet, Black Mountain Jazz, Melville Centre, Abergavenny, 28/07/2024.

Jon Lloyd – tenor & soprano saxophones, John Law – piano, Nick Pini – double bass, Alex Goodyear – drums

On a glorious summer evening, one of the warmest of the year to date, a capacity crowd squeezed into the Melville Theatre for this performance by saxophonist and composer Jon Lloyd and his ‘European Quartet’.

Tonight’s gig represented Lloyd’s first visit to Black Mountain Jazz (BMJ) but his quartet included pianist John Law, who has appeared at Abergavenny on several previous occasions, leading a variety of different line ups. Also present in the line up was local favourite Alex Goodyear, a frequent visitor to BMJ during his student days at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama (RWCMD) in Cardiff and still a great friend of the Club and its associated Wall2Wall Jazz Festival.

Lloyd’s current working group, formed around two years ago, is this quartet featuring Law, Goodyear and bassist Nick Pini and it is this line up that appears on the album “Earth Songs”, released earlier in 2024 on Ubuntu Music.

The recording is credited to the Jon Lloyd Quartet, but the saxophonist now refers to the group as his ‘European Quartet’ the identifier inspired not by the geographical origins of the players but instead by the style of the music played by the group. As Lloyd explained this was not American jazz rooted in the blues, but instead jazz informed by specifically European influences, and particularly classical music and folksong. The aesthetic of the German record label and its founder Manfred Eicher was cited as an inspiration and it remains a Lloyd ambition to actually record for the label. “Are you in the audience, Manfred?”, he asked, hopefully but with tongue firmly in cheek. Indeed Lloyd’s dry wit informed his announcements throughout, “if you’re expecting blistering hard bop you’re going to be disappointed”, he cautioned.

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 tonight was the first time that I had actually seen him perform live. Lloyd’s career has included the playing of free jazz with some of the leading practitioners of the art from both sides of the Atlantic, the writing and playing of more conventional small group jazz and a number of projects exploring the interface between jazz and contemporary classical music.

One of Lloyd’s most frequent collaborators has been the pianist and composer John Law, a bandleader in his own right, who has appeared on several of Lloyd’s albums with a variety of different line ups. The pair also work as a duo and have recently released the album “Naissance” on 33 Jazz. I intend to take a fuller look at this recording in due course, but two pieces from the “Naissance” album were performed tonight, re-arranged for quartet.

Lloyd’s ECM inspired ‘less is more’ approach informs both the “Earth Songs” album and tonight’s performance. His compositions unfold slowly and organically, often based based around simple melodies and recurring rhythmic patterns. There is no grandstanding and little orthodox jazz soloing, but for all that the music is consistently absorbing and thoroughly immersive, possessed of an almost hypnotic quality. “Jon may walk softly, but he delivers an arresting sound”, as Ubuntu label boss Martin Hummell puts it.

Tonight’s performance commenced with “Al’Afiyah”, the opening track on the “Earth Songs” album. This was introduced by Law at the piano, whose arpeggiated figures suggested the influence of Minimalism. Pini was first to respond at the bass, followed by Goodyear with some delicate cymbal work. The drummer then established a gentle brush driven groove, augmented by Pini’s bass melodies and Law’s continuing arpeggios, a golden thread running throughout the piece that helped to give the music a hypnotic, mantric quality. Lloyd made his own entry comparatively late, delivering a simple but beguiling tenor sax melody that he subjected to a series of subtle variations during the course of a gently exploratory solo. Law was also featured as a soloist, improvising around his own arpeggios and deploying cross hand techniques as Pini responded with a series of bass countermelodies. Perhaps the most obvious comparison was with the music of American pianist Keith Jarrett’s ‘European Quartet’ with Jan Garbarek, although by and large Lloyd avoids sounding too much like the celebrated Norwegian saxophonist, preferring to channel Garbarek’s aesthetic rather than his tone.

Next we heard “Cidron”, a Lloyd composition that opens the “Naissance” album. Once again this was ushered in by Law at the Melville Centre’s upright acoustic piano. He was joined by Lloyd for an intimate piano / tenor sax dialogue and at first I thought that this might be an entire duo performance. However double bass and brushed drums were eventually added as Lloyd began to expound upon the melodic theme, followed by Law at the piano and Pini on melodic double bass, his solo evolving into a bass / drum dialogue featuring Goodyear’s filigree cymbal work. Lloyd subsequently returned to restate the theme, with Goodyear now playing the kit with his bare hands.

From the “Earth Songs” album Lloyd’s composition “Flux” was again introduced by Law at the piano, subsequently joined in dialogue by Pini’s bass. Brushed drums were added as Law began to explore more expansively. Lloyd was again a late arrival, this time playing soprano saxophone and probing gently and intelligently during the course of his solo. His playing on the recording sounds almost flute like at times, a characteristic that was not quite so obvious here.

In keeping with the album title a number of the track names on “Earth Songs” reference the natural world, including “The Heron”, which actually closes the album. Introduced by bass and drums, with Goodyear deploying mallets, this was a gentle, lyrical and atmospheric piece that included solos from Lloyd on soprano and Law at the piano.

The first set concluded with “Earth Song”, a piece that has yet to be recorded and which didn’t find its way onto the similarly titled album. This was ushered in by a remarkable passage of bare hand drumming from the consistently impressive Goodyear. Piano, bass and soprano sax were subsequently added, with Lloyd adopting a slightly harder edged tone than on the previous piece. The combination of increasingly incisive soprano sax and hand drums was vaguely reminiscent of Indian music as Lloyd soloed above a rolling hand drum groove. Law’s subsequent piano solo became increasingly percussive and again imbued the music with a mantric quality, with Lloyd eventually returning to restate the theme.

This had been a remarkable first set that had thoroughly engaged the audience and which earned the band a rousing reception. On an uncomfortably hot and sticky night it represented a triumph for the quartet to have elicited such a positive and attentive audience response, you could have heard the proverbial pin drop.

The same meditative qualities were present throughout a second set that commenced with “Breaking the Waves”, another piece from the “Earth Songs” album. Featuring Lloyd on tenor this was a piece with a beautiful melodic theme that provided the basis for its composer’s subsequent musings and variations. Law subsequently embarked on an increasingly florid piano solo that drew a series of brushed drum responses from Goodyear. The young drummer, who also plays with Law’s Re-Creations group, performed with great sensitivity throughout the set, deploying a combination of brushes, mallets and bare hands and never once resorting to sticks. Having seen Goodyear’s playing in other musical contexts I know that he can be an explosive and extrovert performer and it’s a tribute to his skill and versatility that he’s become such a key member of Lloyd’s European Quartet. His mastery of different drumming styles at opposite ends of the dynamic spectrum reminded me of the great Sebastian Rochford. Meanwhile my fellow fan Justin McKeon, who has seen this quartet on multiple occasions, compared Goodyear’s playing with that of Jorge Rossy with the Brad Mehldau Trio.

From the “Naissance” album Lloyd’s composition “For Stan” was dedicated to the cellist Stan Adler, a musician with whom the saxophonist once worked. Law’s pensive solo piano introduction evolved into a dialogue with Lloyd’s soprano sax, with the composer embracing an oboe like sound that sometimes reminded me of Oregon’s Paul McCandless. Bass and drums were subsequently added, with Goodyear this time using mallets. Lloyd’s soprano solo saw him again probing gently, with Law following on piano, his solo evolving into a dialogue with Goodyear. The drummer then enjoyed a solo feature, his mallets sketching melodies on the drum heads. Lloyd then returned to probe more deeply on soprano, his lilting, sinuous playing evoking images of a snake charmer, his subtly winding lines underpinned by Law’s piano arpeggios. Goodyear’s soft mallet rumbles and Pini’s grounding bass.

Lloyd returned to tenor for “Altamira”, a tune written in five and named for the famous Spanish caves and their pre-historic artworks. Introduced by Law at the piano this featured Law’s quietly articulate sax soloing, this followed by a lengthy passage with the group in piano trio mode. Lloyd’s long running musical relationship with Law is at the heart of this ensemble and the pianist plays a vital role in the success of the project.

The quartet returned to the “Earth Songs” repertoire for “Cinq Feuilles”, a title meaning “Five Leaves”. An unaccompanied tenor sax introduction featured the judicious use of echo effects, with the leader subsequently joined by double bass and hand drums. As Lloyd stated the theme and embarked on a series of variations piano was added to the mix, with Law eventually taking over as a soloist. Lloyd eventually returned to solo once more above a backdrop of piano, double bass and hand drumming.

The evening concluded with Lloyd digging deeper into his back catalogue with the ballad “Closer”, a tune that appears on the 2013 album “Vanishing Points” (33 Jazz), credited to the Jon Lloyd Group. This ensemble saw the leader specialising on soprano sax and also playing bass clarinet as part of an all star line up featuring Law on piano and Rhodes, Rob Palmer on guitar, Tom Farmer on bass and Asaf Sirkis at the drums.
The piece concludes the album (the title may be an example of Lloyd’s wry and dry wit) and tonight it represented a vehicle for the leader’s extended soprano sax musings, his tone soft and fluttering and sensitively supported by Law, Pini and Goodyear.

Once again the quartet had held the audience spellbound and although no encore was forthcoming, it would have been richly deserved, this was still a wonderful evening of music making. I had wondered how Lloyd’s brand of contemplative European jazz would go down with the crowd but everybody was totally drawn into the quartet’s sound-world. This was music that had something of a spiritual quality about it and witnessing it was akin to a religious experience. The quiet intensity of the music and the collective sense of purpose allied to the willingness to make use of repeated motifs sometimes reminded me of the music of Nik Bartsch’s Ronin group, a band who actually record for ECM but who ultimately have a sound that is very different to that of the Lloyd quartet and which is very much their own.

This was one of the most remarkable group performances ever seen at BMJ and I’m grateful to Jon Lloyd, John Law and Alex Goodyear for speaking with me after the show and to Jon for providing me with a review copy of “Naissance”.

Meanwhile the “Earth Songs” album contains a number of pieces that weren’t played tonight, with the majority displaying the same ‘European’ aesthetic that informed tonight’s performance.

“River”, another tune to feature a nature related title, represents a vehicle for Lloyd’s sinuous soprano, his solo followed by an expansive excursion from Law at the piano, plus a melodic bass solo from the excellent Pini. It’s one of the more upbeat pieces on the album, especially when Law builds up a head of steam, but the overall aesthetic remains intact.

“Meta Meta” is a variation on “Meta”, a piece recorded for the “Naissance” project. Here Lloyd moves to tenor as part of a group performance that is generally more contemplative and lyrical.

An extended unaccompanied piano passage introduces “Lanovo” and demonstrates Law’s prodigious, classically honed technique, but crucially this is deployed entirely in the service of the music. Lloyd himself is featured on tenor on a piece that features one of his most attractive melodic themes. Pini is again featured as a fluent, melodic and highly dexterous bass soloist. One wonders whether the title is an anagram, and if so whether the piece represents Lloyd’s veiled tribute to his fellow saxophonist Joe Lovano.

Goodyear’s drums introduce “Desert Song”, another of the album’s livelier pieces, I think he even uses sticks! Another memorable theme acts as the springboard for some of Law’s most vigorous and exploratory soloing while Lloyd himself features on tenor, at one point soloing with only the busy Goodyear for company.

“The Trip” is a collective improvisation, but is so inherently melodic that it sounds as if it is fully composed. Goodyear’s exotic, Latin-esque rhythms encourage melodic responses from Lloyd on tenor and Law at the piano.

The other five tracks on the album were performed live this evening, albeit in subtly different versions to the recordings, as is the nature of jazz. Overall the album coheres very well as a mood piece, although there may be listeners who will regard it as a little bloodless and will be looking elsewhere to find a fix of hard bop.

Nevertheless “Earth Songs” has proved to be a very popular album among jazz fans, and particularly aficionados of European jazz. The presence of a capacity audience tonight is very much a reflection of this and the album represents absorbing and enjoyable listening. But on the evidence of tonight’s performance this is music that is ultimately best enjoyed live, when the listener can totally immerse themselves in it.

And here’s what Lloyd himself said about the evening;
“You have a truly great jazz club at Black Mountain Jazz, and it was a pleasure to appear… relaxed, friendly, well-organised and well-attended!”

With Goodyear adding;
“Thanks again so much for having us Black Mountain Jazz!! A brilliant night and crowd as always”.

 

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