Mark Lockheart, ‘Dreamers’ Quartet, Kidderminster Jazz Club, Corn Exchange Room, Town Hall, Kidderminster, 03/02/2022.

Mark Lockheart – tenor & soprano saxophones, John Parricelli – electric guitar, Tom Herbert – electric bass, Dave Smith – drums

As a former member of both Loose Tubes and Polar Bear, two of the most innovative and influential UK jazz acts of the last forty years Mark Lockheart’s status as a legend of British jazz is already assured.

Since the initial demise of Loose Tubes in the early 1990s (Lockheart rejoined the band for their 2014 reunion gigs) the saxophonist worked with Django Bates’ Delightful Precipice, played in a duo with former Tubes guitarist John Parricelli and formed the collaborative Perfect Houseplants quartet with pianist Huw Warren, bassist Dudley Phillips and drummer Martin France. A much loved institution in their own right the Houseplants merged jazz, folk and classical influences and released a series of acclaimed albums between 1993 – 2000. They, too, have played reunion shows in recent years.

In 2003 Lockheart became a member of drummer and composer Sebastian Rochford’s ground breaking Polar Bear group, appearing on all six of the band’s albums.

At the same time he was conducting a parallel solo career, initially with the twelve piece Scratch Band with whom he released the albums “Through Rose Coloured Glasses” (1998) and “Imaginary Dances” (2002). 

“Moving Air” (2005) and the excellent “In Deep” (2009) were small group recordings, both of which have been reviewed elsewhere on the Jazzmann.

Currently Lockheart is a member of the collaborative drummer-less trio Malija alongside bassist Jasper Hoiby and pianist Liam Noble, this group having released two albums to date, “The Day I Had Everything” (2015) and “Instinct” (2017).
Lockheart has also worked extensively as a sideman and session musician, across a variety of genres including jazz, folk, pop and rock. He and Warren worked closely with the folk singer June Tabor for many years and Lockheart’s pop and rock credits include work with Radiohead, Stereolab, Prefab Sprout, Jah Wobble, The High Llamas and more.

In a jazz context he has worked as a sideman with vocalist Norma Winstone, trumpeter Kenny Wheeler,  pianists Nikki Iles and Huw Warren, guitarists Billy Jenkins and John Parricelli,  bassists Steve Berry and Dudley Phillips, composer Colin Towns and as a member of Jasper Hoiby’s band Fellow Creatures. Lockheart has also worked extensively with the contemporary classical composer Mark Anthony Turnage.

As his work with Scratch Band suggested Lockheart has always relished working with larger ensembles and the album “Days Like These” (2010) saw his compositions performed by Germany’s acclaimed NDR Big Band. Meanwhile his still ongoing “Ellington In Anticipation” (album released in 2013)  features radical new arrangements of the Duke’s work for a hand picked septet.

2019 saw the release of his most ambitious album to date, “Days On Earth” (Edition Records), which featured a set of compositions performed by a jazz sextet plus a thirty piece orchestra featuring both classical and jazz musicians under the baton of the late composer, conductor and arranger John Ashton Thomas (1961 – 2021). My review of this impressive recording, from which much of the above biographical detail has been extracted, can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/mark-lockheart-days-on-earth

Ashton Thomas was also part of Lockheart’s ongoing project Salvator Mundi, which features the saxophonist as part of a duo with the church organist Roger Sayer. Ashton Thomas wrote music specifically for the project and an album of the same name, recorded live at Temple Church in London was released on Edition Records in 2019. The material also includes compositions by Charles Villiers Stamford, John Blow, Thomas Tallis, Henry Purcell, William Byrd, Duke Ellington and Lockheart himself.

Lockheart’s latest release “Dreamers” (Edition Records, 2022) is his first small group recording under his own name since the “In Deep” album from 2009. It introduces a new band, the ‘Dreamers’ soubriquet being a group name as well as an album title, and a new approach.

Nevertheless the musicians of Dreamers are closely linked to the leader’s musical past. Drummer Dave Smith played on the “In Deep” album, while Lockheart and bassist Tom Herbert worked together as members of Polar Bear. Lockheart is also an acclaimed educator and taught at Trinity Laban in London, where his pupils included the brilliant young pianist and keyboard player Elliot Galvin, the fourth member of the Dreamers group.

Essentially Dreamers is an electric band. At Lockheart’s request Herbert plays bass guitar rather than double bass while Galvin deploys a range of synths and other keyboards. The range of influences is wide, ranging from Duke Ellington through Weather Report and John Zorn to The Beatles and Kraftwerk, with some commentators also citing Berlin period David Bowie. Personally I was also reminded of a more English version of Bowie associate Donny McCaslin’s ‘Black Star’ quartet featuring keyboard player Jason Lindner, electric bass specialist Tim Lefebvre and drummer Mark Guiliana.

The “Dreamers” album was recorded in 2020 and features nine original compositions by Lockheart in addition to two collective improvisations credited to the whole band. The music was conceived before the pandemic and It had been intended to tour and ‘road test’  the material prior to recording, but lockdown put paid to that. Indeed Lockheart suffered a nasty bout of Covid himself, but has thankfully made a full recovery.

Kidderminster Jazz Club’s first event of 2022 was also the first date of a tour by the Dreamers quartet, one supported by the West Midlands Jazz Promoters Network with several other performances scheduled to take place in the region. I’m pleased to report that this KJC event was well attended, audience numbers were down in December 2021 due to the uncertainty about the Omicron variant, but the jazz going public seem to have recovered some confidence now. The crowd included several first time visitors to the Club, clearly attracted by Lockheart’s impressive reputation.

It came as a surprise to find that Galvin was absent. Lockheart later told me that this was because Galvin and his partner, trumpeter Laura Jurd, have recently become the parents of a baby boy, Henry. Congratulations to all of them from the Jazzmann. It is hoped that Galvin may be able to join the band for some of the dates later in the tour.

Into the breach stepped Lockheart’s long time musical associate John Parricelli, a former Loose Tube and once Lockheart’s partner in the duo Matheran. Parricelli is one of the most original guitarists the UK has produced, a musician with a style that is all his own. He is also a player with an international reputation, as his lengthy tenure with acclaimed Swedish bassist and composer Lars Danielsson’s Liberetto band attests.

Tonight Parricelli’s performance was little short of brilliant as he negotiated the twists and turns of Lockheart’s often complex writing with enormous skill. This was music that had been written for keyboards rather than guitar, but Parricelli rose to the challenge, stamping his own authority on the music and making his place within it seem perfectly natural. It sounded as if it could have been composed with him in mind as he threatened to steal the show, whilst at the same time remaining the consummate team player.

The majority of tonight’s music was sourced from the “Dreamers” album and the performance began with “Weird Weather”, a title that I took to be a veiled Zawinul / Shorter reference as well as a comment on climate change. A suitably atmospheric intro featured the sound of guitar and bass effects, with both Parricelli and Herbert making effective use of the array of pedals at their disposal. Smith’s cymbal shimmers added to the ambience before Lockheart picked out the melody on tenor sax, eventually launching into a solo backed by the colourful grooves of Herbert and Smith and the swirling guitar effects of Parricelli. With this combination of instruments Dreamers sometimes reminded me of a spaced out version of Partisans, particularly when Parricelli introduced a strong rock influence to his solo. Lockheart moved from tenor to soprano mid tune, the first of several such switches.

Unaccompanied tenor sax introduced “Jagdish”, a piece inspired by Lockheart’s pre-pandemic trip to India and the music that he heard there. Developing out of the dialogue between Lockheart’s sax multiphonics and Smith’s cymbal scrapes this was not the usual ‘Indo Jazz Fusion’, but instead music with the Indian influence filtered through modern technology as echoed sax combined with guitar and bass effects. Making use of Indian scales Lockheart’s tenor solo took on an aggressive angularity as the music gathered momentum, fuelled by Smith’s dynamic drumming. Strongly influenced by West African music Smith is a master of world rhythms and it’s this knowledge that led him to being a member of former Led Zeppelin vocalist Robert Plant’s Sensation Shape Shifters band.

The as yet unrecorded “Beat Of The Heart” featured a winning combination of string melodies and infectious odd meter grooves, with impressive solos from Lockheart on tenor and Parricelli on guitar. Lockheart is an intrinsically melodic player, whatever the musical context, and in this setting, with its regular deployment of electronic effects, his sax was a vital humanising voice.

The first set ended with “Dreamers” itself, the piece perhaps most reminiscent of Kraftwerk or Bowie’s Berlin with Lockheart’s tenor stretching out in muscular, but still melodic, fashion above the swirling textures and rhythmic lattices constructed by Parricelli, Herbert and Smith.

The title of “Marmalade Skies” represents Lockheart’s homage The Beatles and makes subtle allusions to “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds”, and maybe “Tomorrow Never Knows” too.  These are far from obvious – less overt, for example, than guitarist John Scofield’s “Twister”, a variation on “Twist and Shout” that appeared on the 1987 ECM album “Second Sight”, credited to bassist Marc Johnson and his Bass Desires quartet, a group that also featured second guitarist Bill Frisell and drummer Peter Erskine.
However, I digress. Tonight’s performance was ushered in by an atmospheric guitar and electric bass dialogue, with Parricelli and Herbert laying down interlocking arpeggios, while both making subtle use of their range of effects. Wisps of melody emerged as Smith’s brushed drums and the leader’s tenor were added to the proceedings, with relatively more conventional solos eventually coming from Lockheart and Parricelli. The outro featured a reprise of the opening passage, with Parricelli’s guitar atmospherics augmented by Herbert’s live looping and the patter of Smith’s hand drumming.

“Fluorescences” borrows its title from the 1996 Stereolab album upon which Lockheart appeared. With its urgent unison riffing and jagged rhythms this was arguably the most rock influenced piece of the night.  I’ll admit to not knowing a whole lot about Stereolab, but the power and complexity of the piece did occasionally remind me of King Crimson, which is intended as a compliment.

Following this burst of energy Lockheart cooled things down again with the as yet unrecorded ballad “Distant Bells”, his gently brooding tenor augmented by Parricelli’s guitar soundscaping, Herbert’s plangent electric bass and Smith’s brushed drums. His tenor solo was followed by features for Parricelli on guitar and Herbert on melodic electric bass.

“Nature V Nurture” marked the leader’s return to soprano sax, soloing fluently on the instrument, before eventually switching to tenor as Parricelli took over. If the title suggests some kind of argument then the guitarist was to make his point particularly forcefully as the music continued to gather momentum.

The performance concluded with the two part composition “Sixteen”, which began with a combination of guitar and electric bass dialogue and snatches of soprano sax melody, punctuated by Smith’s mallet rumbles. Herbert’s bass motif was at the core and he was the first soloist to feature, eventually handing over to Lockheart, who, significantly had made the move to tenor. His solo was immensely powerful, a towering statement fuelled by Smith’s dynamic drumming and Herbert’s monstrous electric bass, these two linking up to create a rhythmic juggernaut that combined rock power with jazz chops.  Parricelli’s looped layers of guitar effects added to this impressive sonic edifice as the evening ended on suitably impressive note.

This was the most modern and experimental jazz to be heard at KJC during its comparatively short existence, but it was well received by a discerning audience, proof yet again that ‘provincial’ jazz fans are willing to engage with new music and not just listen to standards all the time.

The “Dreamers” album confirms that Lockheart remains one of the most interesting and forward looking musicians in British jazz. His experiments with jazz and electronica, honed by his tenure with Polar Bear and others, works well and the album ranks up there with his best work. Lockheart’s recorded output is admirably varied and consistently interesting. In Smith, Herbert and Galvin he has a trusted team and all perform with distinction on this new recording.

Tonight’s show with Parricelli was a great success as an event and got the tour off to a good start. The guitarist blended in brilliantly and did an absolutely terrific job of integrating with the rest of the group.

I’ve met many of the members of Loose Tubes over the years, but never John, even though I’ve seen him play many times with Loose Tubes, Lars Danielsson, Chris Batchelor, Andy Sheppard and others. So tonight it was a pleasure to talk with him after the show and to discover his local connections, born in Evesham at school in Worcester, and to hear about he used to come hop picking in Herefordshire back in the day to earn money for guitar accessories when he was a young player. Like all the former Tubes I’ve met he was a proper gentleman.

My thanks to Mark, Dave and Tom for speaking with me too.

The “Dreamers” tour continues with further dates as listed below;

Feb 9th - Stratford Play House, Stratford Upon Avon
Feb 10th - Bonnington Theatre, Arnold, Nottingham
Feb 16th - Cathedral Hotel, Lichfield Arts, Lichfield
Feb 17th - Jazz Coventry - Albany Club, Coventry
Feb 18th - 1000 Trades, Birmingham
Feb 19th - Hive Shrewsbury
Feb 22nd - Listen, Cambridge
Feb 24th - Seven Arts Leeds, Leeds
Feb 25th - Sheffield Jazz, Sheffield
Feb 26th - The Vortex Jazz Club, London [two shows]

For further details and ticket links please visit http://www.marklockheart.co.uk

I may even attend the Shrewsbury gig, assuming that Galvin will be back in the line up by then. It would be interesting to see this music performed in its original / intended form and with keyboards instead of guitar. “Compare and Contrast”, as they used to say in exam papers.

 

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