Karim Saber Quintet minus one
Oxford University Jazz Society at the Mad Hatter, Oxford
12 February 2025

Karim Saber – guitar, Alex Wilson -  piano,  John Jones -  double bass, Jack Thomas – drums

British-Iranian guitarist composer Karim Saber brought a quartet rather than a quintet to this Jazz Society date at the Mad Hatter cocktail pub as tenorist Matt Cook could not play the gig.

They met at the Royal Academy, and they have been playing together for about five years. Saber regularly tours Europe as part of keyboardist Lukas De Rungs Quintet and will be on tour with them in March and April. His schedule then includes a date for his quintet at Jazz Spoken Here at Marr’s Bar, Worcester on 22nd May.

‘Transmission’, his debut album was released in 2023 on Ubuntu Music.  Ubuntu were tipped off about him by the founder of what was the very successful trio Phronesis, double bassist and Royal Academy double bass professor Jasper Høiby who also produced the album (*sources below). The album launch was at the Vortex, London.

With one exception tonight’s set consisted entirely of Saber’s compositions. Just two of the numbers though were from ‘Transmission’ and the rest are destined to be on Saber’s second album.

The set began with two of those numbers run together, ‘Litany’ inspired by The Litany Against Fear in the original Dune novel, and ‘Hush’. I heard these as a seamless single number until at the conclusion we were told otherwise.

‘Litany’ started etherially with Jack Thomas using mallets to stroke the drums and rippling notes from Saber’s guitar. Gradually an attractive tune emerged which became a pulse carried by double bass. Piano and drums over which Saber laid down an impressive marker in the form of of an extended and expressive solo.

The music became more complex, abstract, even jagged and featured solos for the piano and for the double bass. I think in retrospect this was ‘Hush’, and sounded like a textbook example of one aspect of contemporary jazz.

There was a moment when cocktails almost stopped play. The band smelt burning and thought there might be a fire somewhere on stage. However this turned out to be a cocktail ingredient being prepared! The group handled this potential hiatus with aplomb.

‘Canvass’, another of the newer tunes began with a burst of rhythmic energy. Then John Jones’s double bass featured strongly carrying the attractive melody, as Jasper Høiby often did in Phronesis, until the guitar took over and the music began to move in a more abstract direction with Jack Thomas on drums displaying good touch again.

The mellow ‘Sister Song’ that closed the first half, was almost a waltz with relaxed solos from Saber and from Alex Wilson’s piano, both played over a strong pulse from double bass and drums. Arguably it was the most melodic number so far, that is until it too took a more abstract turn.

‘Blossom’ provided an upbeat start to the second half with a sparkling sinuous guitar solo from Saber and an engrossing double bass solo from John Jones before a joyful conclusion.

It was followed appropriately by a number entitled ‘Bloom’, another of the newer ones, which commenced with some contrapuntal interplay between guitar and piano. This was a tune with striking changes of mood with a powerful driving climax being succeeded by a passage that was chilled but sustained the underlying tension. Then there was a piano solo and one of those sudden endings (the bloom dying?) that caught me by surprise.

‘Turner’ inspired by the painter and the second track from ‘Transmission’ saw the foursome in meditative style but still with a groove that kept my feet tapping.

The closing number was a cover of the title track of sax legend Joe Henderson’s 1964 album ‘Inner Urge’. This was a bold choice given that Saber was without his sax player. Nonetheless the group’s energetic short sharp version was very enjoyable, with four or five explosive bursts from Thomas the nearest to a drum solo all night, and more splendid soloing not only from Saber but also from Alex Wilson on piano.

Though jazz guitar is not my favourite, I thoroughly enjoyed Karin Saber’s playing. He played without the aid of pedals as far as I could see, yet his solos were brimful of creativity and had an attractive warm rich tone which drew me in.

Also he impressed me as a composer. His numbers were well structured with a good balance between the melodic and the abstract, and had some good tunes. This makes his music both accessible and often intriguing, and his group put his music over very well.

After the gig Karen kindly chatted briefly to me before he and the group headed for the train back to the London scene, He said the absence of his saxophonist not only meant a modified the set list, but if he’d been with them the group’s sound would have been fuller.

No doubt it would have sounded different but his absence probably gave more soloing opportunities to the excellent Alex Wilson and John Jones and the foursome produced great music that was well worth coming out on a cold night to hear.

Certainly on this evidence I’d recommend looking out for performances by Karim Saber and for his second album when it emerges.

Set List courtesy of Karin Saber:

Litany,
Hush,
Canvass,
Sister Song,
Blossom,
Bloom,
Turner,
Inner Urge (Joe Henderson)

* Sources;

http://www.jazzwise.com/review/karim-saber-transmission

http://www.jazzjournal.co.uk/2024/03/28/karim- saber-transmission/#:~:text=The%20title%20track%20is%20a,lot%20more%20from%20Karim%20S

COLIN MAY

blog comments powered by Disqus