Phronesis

“Life To Everything”

(Edition Records EDN 1050)

Phronesis have come a long way since the release of their début album “Organic Warfare"way back in 2007. The Jazzmann picked up on the promise shown by Phronesis straight away with a glowing review for that first album -and I’ve been telling people “I know how to spot ‘em” ever since as the group’s star has continued to rise and rise.

Led by Danish bassist Jasper Hoiby and featuring British pianist Ivo Neame and Swedish born drummer Anton Eger Phronesis has developed into something of an Anglo Scandinavian super-group. Neame replaced original pianist Magnus Hjorth for the second album “Green Delay” which consolidated the trio’s reputation. But it was the third album “Alive”, recorded at London’s Forge venue in Camden Town that really broke the band in terms of both critical and, in a jazz context, commercial success. Recorded with guest drummer Mark Guiliana this was a superb example of just how exciting the trio’s live shows could be and established them as one of the most in demand jazz groups around resulting in a slew of festival appearances. It was named as Jazzwise Magazine’s “Album of the Year” for 2010.

The supremely confident studio recording “Walking Dark” (2012) built on the success of the live album while the trio’s reputation as a concert attraction continued to grow. Hoiby, Neame and Eger have developed a stunning rapport, their live performances mixing skill and daring in equal measure, high energy ,deeply rhythmic experiences featuring some truly bravura playing. Phronesis are the very embodiment of the phrase “serious fun” and their audience love them for it.

I was lucky enough to get a sneak preview of the material presented on “Life To Everything” at the 2013 Brecon Jazz Festival. The group delivered a quite brilliant set of previously unheard material at Theatr Brycheiniog that earned them a totally deserved standing ovation, their playing of the complex, previously unaired material was truly incendiary. But this was just a warm up for a pair of appearances “in the round” at the Cockpit Theatre in Marylebone as part of the 2013 London Jazz Festival where this second live album was recorded. I’ve seen the group perform live on numerous occasions but that Brecon performance was the best yet and it comes as no surprise to find that the trio decided to document these new tunes in a live rather than a studio setting. This is a band that revels in taking musical risks and living off the energy provided by a live audience. And given that it was a live recording that really made their name who can blame them for going down the same road again?

I’ve witnessed the group develop over the years, theirs is a tale of consistent artistic growth and as the levels of rapport and interaction have increased their live shows have become progressively more exciting. “Life To Everything” documents a group at the peak of its collective creative powers and the quote from Plato that gives the album its title seems particularly apposite - “music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and life to everything”.

That development is also evidenced by the fact that all three members now write for the band, in the early days all of the music was Hoiby’s. This new spirit of democracy is evidenced on “Life To Everything” by the fact that each member contributes three tunes each and it is expressed even more deeply in the playing.

The fact that the writing duties are equally divided on this recording ensures that the trio’s music is more varied than previously but without sacrificing anything of the group’s well established signature sound. It is perhaps not surprising that Hoiby and Eger’s pieces tend to be energetic and highly rhythmic with Neame adding a more thoughtful , harmonically adventurous element.

It’s Eger’s knotty “Urban Control” that kicks things off with its fleeting melodic phrases, dynamic contrasts and fast, bustling runs for bass and piano all driven by Eger’s, busy, colourful drumming style. Eger is a great showman, a relentlessly busy drummer who always maintains a remarkable degree of precision even when his playing seems to be at the very edge of control. There’s an air of nervous energy about Eger that permeates both his writing and the sound of Phronesis as a whole.

The title of Neame’s “Phraternal” was presumably chosen as an allusion to the trio’s shared sense of purpose and almost telepathic levels of musical interaction. Gentler and more considered than Eger’s opener it features the wonderfully rich sound of Hoiby’s bowed bass on the introduction. The bassist’s pizzicato playing is also a thing of wonder, huge in tone, deeply rhythmic and propulsive when required and astonishingly agile, dexterous and well articulated when soloing. Neame has been keen to emphasise that his pieces on the album were written specifically for Phronesis rather then being leftovers from solo projects. Nevertheless his tunes bring a fresh new lyrical perspective to the Phronesis sound whilst retaining the levels of inventiveness and sophistication common to both the group and Neame’s own projects. Phronesis has been the making of Neame, since joining the group he has grown into one of the UK’s most inventive and distinctive piano soloists, an in demand performer whose playing is now being heard in an increasing variety of contexts.

When reviewing “Organic Warfare” I referenced both Hoiby’s “way with a melody” and “way with a groove”, qualities that have never deserted him. The bassist’s pieces are often centred around repeated snippets of melody which combine with highly rhythmic grooves to quickly ensnare the listener. The influence of both Avishai Cohen and the much missed E.S.T. have been mentioned in connection with Hoiby’s writing but these he is very much his own man as the exciting “Behind Bars” demonstrates, busy and inventive and driven by the composer’s bass - there’s a stunning pizzicato solo mid tune which brings whoops of delight from the LJF audience. Indeed such spontaneous displays of audience enthusiasm are a constant throughout the album. There’s another one just minutes later following a stunning drum feature as Eger surges around his kit, his urgent inventiveness given free rein by Hoiby’s monstrous underpinning bass vamp. Phronesis are masters of the musical white knuckle ride.

It’s left to Neame calm things down again with his composition “Song For Lost Nomads”, another example of the trio’s more lyrical side that grows out of a delightfully melodic solo piano introduction to embrace all the harmonic invention and rhythmic inventiveness we’ve come to expect from Phronesis.  There’s a folk dance quality about the melody which is superbly embellished by Neame’s melodicism, Hoiby’s drive and Eger’s colourful and distinctive drumming.

Hoiby’s “Wings 2 The Mind” directly references the Plato quote and opens with the solemn sound of arco bass before heading off into more familiar Hoiby territory by means of a hooky pizzicato bass phrase which Neame picks up and runs with, his flowing solo supported by increasingly assertive rhythms with Hoiby eventually taking over for a bass solo rich in both melodic content and rhythmic drive. Finally its the turn of Eger who conjures a remarkable range of sounds from his kit in an increasingly virtuosic display underscored by Neame’s piano vamp. Cue more audience histrionics.

Eger is hardly any less busy on Hoiby’s febrile “Nine Lives” which bubbles and bustles relentlessly throughout with its short, clipped melodic and rhythmic phrases. This is the sound of the trio at its most tightly meshed with Neame’s feverish piano skittering and skirting around the restless rhythms. Hoiby’s powerfully plucked solo ends the piece and with the audience applause edited out we go straight into Neame’s “Deep Space Dance” which combines something of his more lyrical approach with the more rhythmic writing styles of his band mates.

The final two pieces come from the pen of Eger. “Herne Hill” is a dedication to the band’s manager Sue Edwards who lives in that locality, I also like to think it might be a reference to the famous Herne Hill community piano. It’s a piece that has frequently been selected for airplay on the few specialist jazz radio programmes that remain. Eger has loaded the piece with catchy hooks and phrases and it’s also played with astonishing verve and rhythmic drive. The audience absolutely loved it.

The closing “Dr Black” (a tribute to US drummer Jim, perhaps? ) is more nuanced and makes greater use of dynamic contrasts as it develops from a gentle folk inspired melody picked out by Neame at the piano to a full on rhythmic assault   incorporating a typically audacious drum solo.

Other commentators have remarked on the quality of the production and the engineering team deserve praise for capturing all the excitement of a dynamic live performance without sacrificing anything in terms of sound quality. Each instrument is clearly delineated and the details and nuances of the playing are sharply focussed.

But ultimately the triumph rests with the three musicians, the sheer skill and daring of the playing allied to a sense of fun, adventure and a deeply shared sense of group identity is irresistible. The rise and rise of Phronesis has been one of the great success stories of British (or should that be European) jazz of recent years - they’ve even made inroads in the US- and on this evidence looks set to run for quite a while yet. 

         

 

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