Mark Cherrie Quartet

“Any Anxious Colour”

(Windmill Jazz WJCD002)

Mark Cherrie – steel pan, John Donaldson – piano, Tom Mason – acoustic bass, Eric Ford – drums

with guests;
Chantelle Duncan – vocals, Dave O’Higgins – tenor saxophone, Fergus Gerrand – percussion

Mark Cherrie is that musical rarity, a jazz steel pan player. Born in the UK of Trinidadian heritage he learnt the instrument from his father, Ralph,  who ran a steel band. Cherrie has worked with many other leading steel pan players but also has a parallel career as a keyboard player and composer. As a keyboard player he has toured globally with many leading pop, rock and jazz acts and as a composer of ‘library music’ his pieces have been featured on many well known television programmes, as well as in the cinema. As a pan player Cherrie performs solo shows for all manner of events (formal concerts, parties, weddings, funerals, corporate events etc.), often utilising backing tracks recorded by himself in his own studio.

Cherrie has spent many years involved in the world of commercial music but he also has a foot in the jazz camp and in 2018 recorded the album “Joining The Dots”, collaborating with leading jazz musicians John Donaldson (piano) and Eric Ford (drums), both of whom also appear on this latest recording. Cherrie’s debut also featured bassist Mick Hutton, who was unavailable for this latest project. The new album features the bass playing talents of Tom Mason, who was recommended to Cherrie by Eric Ford.

The title “Joining The Dots” was a reference to Cherrie’s desire for the steel pan to be seen as more than “just a Caribbean instrument”. The album therefore featured not just jazz musicians but also jazz tunes, among them Herbie Hancock’s “Maiden Voyage” and Wayne Shorter’s “Footprints”. The material also included five Cherrie originals plus a number of pop and rock covers. Guest musicians included vocalist Chantelle Duncan and saxophonist Dave O’Higgins, both of whom feature again on the new album, plus guitarists Nigel Price and Dominic Grant (Cherrie’s regular duo partner) and vocalist Sumudu.

The new album puts the focus very much on Cherrie’s original material. The lockdown period ultimately proved to a productive one for Cherrie who provided eleven new tunes for the quartet to work on, with the group members helping to develop the final arrangements. The only ‘outside’ item is an arrangement of the old Seekers hit “The Carnival Is Over”. The guest list includes Duncan and O’Higgins plus percussionist Fergus Gerrand, the latter playing a key role on several items in the programme.

Cherrie says of his writing for the new album;
“The steel pan of course has no particular history in jazz music itself, unlike many other instruments. Whilst some might regard this as a hindrance, I always felt that this was in fact liberating, since as a writer & player, I didn’t feel particularly married to any period of jazz’s rich history. It enabled me to dance around any era of jazz’s evolution.”

Cherrie’s album notes also provide valuable insights into the individual tracks and the album commences with the title track, which includes the contributions of uncredited strings in addition to the playing of guests Gerrand and O’Higgins. Also the opener at the quartet’s live shows the recorded version features a lush sound as string textures combine with the timbres of steel pan and O’Higgins’ tenor sax, the latter playing a prominent part in the arrangement. Fluent solos come from the leader on steel pan, Donaldson at the piano and O’Higgins on tenor, with Mason, Ford and Gerrand combining combining to add a surprising, and very welcome, rhythmic heft.

“Ole Mas” is a nod to Cherrie’s calypso heritage and represents the composer’s attempts to merge the traditional sounds of Trinidad with a more obviously jazz vocabulary. Cherrie performs on a “vintage”  tenor pan made in Trinidad in 1976 and later restored on The Repair Shop television programme – although I have to admit to having never seen this particular episode. With Gerrand again guesting this is a vibrant and highly rhythmic piece with the steel pan rightly taking centre stage. There’s also a lively piano solo from Donaldson, who adds a bebop inspired sensibility to the proceedings, plus a carnival style percussion episode featuring Cherrie, Gerrand and Ford.

Of “Hello Stranger” Cherrie says “I thought it would be cool to write a tune that started with a strong bass figure”. Tom Mason does the honours, his powerfully plucked intro providing the basis for a tune that also combines the Caribbean sound of the steel pan with a Mozambique style drum groove. It’s a meeting of various elements of the African diaspora as Donaldson again brings his knowledge of bebop to the proceedings as he shares the soloing with the leader. Like its immediate predecessor this is a joyous, highly energetic piece that lifts the spirit.

Cherries slows things down with the song “Moonbeams & Butterflies”, a dedication to his daughter Corinna. Sung by guest vocalist Chantelle Duncan this piece is a jazz ballad featuring the sounds of strings and brushed drums. Cherrie demonstrates that the steel pan is an instrument capable of considerable lyricism as he shares the solos with Donaldson, who exhibits similar qualities at the piano.

Of “Bop 21” Cherrie says “playing swing is not associated with the steel pan, so I wanted to write a bop tune with classic changes, that shows this instrument can actually play that music”. As the man says it’s a pure bop tune with a tricky melodic ‘head’, complex chord changes and bags of swing. Mason leads off the solos with a dexterous excursion on double bass, followed by the leader on steel pan, who surely proves his point. O’ Higgins, a master of the genre, weighs in with an incisive tenor solo, followed by another seasoned practitioner in Donaldson at the piano.

Cherrie is fulsome in his praise for Ford’s work behind the kit; “It’s all there for me, swing, knowledge of rhythms, effortless ability to switch time signatures and seemingly endless creativity”. Perhaps best known for his work with the trio Partikel it’s Ford who kicks off “Between Two Worlds”, arguably the most contemporary sounding track on the album, an episodic composition that passes through a number of time signature changes and which features expansive solos from Cherrie on steel pan and Donaldson at the piano. Mason is also featured as a soloist and in dialogue with Ford, their musical conversation underpinned by pan and piano. “John and I effectively become the rhythm section”, observes Cherrie.

There’s more rhythmic complexity on “Seesaw”, a composition that takes its title from the tune’s alternating piano grooves. “I have always loved tunes that switch back and forth between different grooves”, explains Cherrie. A vibrant and rhythmic piece featuring propulsive odd meter rhythms allied to the inventive soloing of Cherrie and Donaldson this is another piece with a very contemporary edge.

“The Search” re-introduces guest percussionist Fergus Gerrand and is a Latin style composition initially inspired by Horace Silver that Cherrie describes as “evolving into a full blown cha-cha”. Gerrand plays a key role in the arrangement, bringing an authentic Afro-Cuban feel to the music as Cherrie solos on steel pan followed by Donaldson at the piano. There’s something of a nod to Horace in the piano figures that underpin Gerrand’s percussion feature.

“Somewhere A Star” is the second jazz ballad to be dedicated to Cherrie’s daughter. Again it features the singing of Chantelle Duncan, her warm and expressive vocals initially accompanied by piano, double bass and brushed drums as Cherrie temporarily takes a back seat. The leader re-emerges to deliver a mellifluous steel pan solo, followed by the similarly lyrical Donaldson at the piano.

The title of “One And One Half Miles” is not a Miles Davis reference as I first thought, but is instead a nod to a popular calypso tune. However with the addition of Gerrand on percussion Cherrie’s piece takes on more of a Cuban feel. It’s fast paced and rhythmically vibrant, with sparkling solos coming from the leader on steel pan, Mason on double bass and the versatile and knowledgeable Donaldson at the piano.

Of “Meet You At The Finish Line” Cherrie says; “all jazzers love blowing over a blues and this is kind of that”. He also speculates that the piece will pick up even more pace when the quartet performs it live. A second piece to be performed at a rapid trajectory it’s a proper jazz piece that re-introduces O’ Higgins as a featured soloist, his buccaneering tenor feature followed by similarly barnstorming solos from Donaldson at the piano and the leader on steel pan, followed by a closing drum feature from the excellent Ford.

The album concludes with Cherrie’s uplifting arrangement of “The Carnival Is Over”, delivered at a faster pace than the rather lugubrious Seekers hit and incorporating a number of time signature shifts. It’s a genuine jazz arrangement that includes lively solos from Cherrie and Donaldson, fuelled by the propulsive rhythms generated by Mason and Ford, with the irrepressible drummer again featuring towards the close.

Having enjoyed the music of David Ola’s Lucumi Project, a group that included three steel pan players, at the 2024 Cheltenham Jazz Festival I needed no convincing that that the steel pan could be a convincing jazz instrument. Like the players of the Lucumi Project Mark Cherrie is a virtuoso of the instrument and a gifted improviser who is more than capable of holding his own alongside highly accomplished jazz musicians in a predominately jazz context.

Make no mistake “Any Anxious Colour” is a bona fide jazz album that explores several aspects of the genre – bebop, blues, ballads, Latin – and does so very convincingly with Cherrie also impressing as a composer. The steel pan brings a distinctive instrumental voice to the proceedings and the jazz calypso track “Ole Mas” is hugely enjoyable. Cherrie is well served by his bandmates and his guests and it would be interesting to see this music being performed live. My only reservation would be the occasional use of strings, which I found to be a bit too lush and cloying, and ultimately rather superfluous. However these are used sparingly and this represents a small quibble in the context of what is a very good album overall.

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