Mark Williams Trio

“Long Way Out”

(Self Released)

Mark Williams –electric and acoustic guitar, Paul Susans – electric bass, Rob Walker – drums

with Andy Champion – Hammond organ (track 7)

Originally from Belfast guitarist and composer Mark Williams came to England in 1999 to study for a degree in Jazz, Popular and Commercial Music at Newcastle University. After graduating with honours he remained in the North East and has developed into one of the region’s most celebrated contemporary musicians as a bandleader,  first call sideman and as a significant collaborator with many of the area’s leading jazz performers.

He has previously appeared on the Jazzmann web pages as part of groups led by vocalist and songwriter Zoe Gilby and his playing features on her albums “Looking Glass” (2010),  “Twelve Stories” (2013) and “Aurora” (2021). The guitarist has also been part of the song writing process, co-authoring a number of songs in conjunction with Gilby and bassist Andy Champion.

Williams has also been part of Living In Shadows, Gilby and Champion’s rock and electronica project. He features as a band member on the eponymous debut from 2021 and also appears in a sideman role on the recent follow up “Neon Burning” (2024). Both of these albums are reviewed elsewhere on The Jazzmann.

I have enjoyed seeing Williams performing live with the Gilby group on numerous occasions at jazz club events and festivals around the country. Several of these shows are reviewed elsewhere on this site as are Gilby’s albums “Twelve Stories” and “Aurora”.

Previously Williams was also a member of Champion’s prog jazz quintet ACV, which released the albums “Fail In Wood” (2010) and the excellent “Busk” which appeared on the Babel label in 2013. Both of these albums are reviewed elsewhere on The Jazzmann, but sadly this particular unit now appears to be defunct.

Currently Williams performs in a duo with former ACV saxophonist Graeme Wilson, the pair operating under the group name Grandma.

Previous projects have included  the Riviera Quartet which he co-led with trumpeter Pete Tanton and the trio Leash featuring Champion and one time Back Door drummer Adrian Tilbrook. There was also the MoHaWi Trio featuring trumpeter Graham Hardy and drummer Russ Morgan.

As a sideman Williams has worked with bands variously led by saxophonists Harry Keeble and Lewis Watson,  vocalists Jo Harrop, Dulce May Moreno and Paul Skerritt and drummers Russ Morgan and John Bradford, the latter also the current drummer with the Zoe Gilby Quartet.

However Williams’ main creative outlet remains his own trio, formed in 2006 and currently featuring Paul Susans on acoustic and electric bass and Rob Walker at the drums, the latter having replaced previous incumbent Russ Morgan.

The trio released its debut album, the now deleted “Balaclava Street” as far back as 2007. The long awaited follow up, “Last Bus to Bensham”, named after a district in Gateshead, eventually appeared in 2017 and featured a line up of Williams, Susans and Morgan. This was an impressive offering that showcased Williams’ abilities as both a guitarist and a composer. My review of the album, from which much of the above biographical detail has been sourced, can be found here; 
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/the-mark-williams-trio-last-bus-to-bensham

Williams latest trio album, released in December 2024 features seven new originals from the pen of the guitarist. The cast features regular band members Susans and Walker with the final track also includes a guest appearance from the versatile Andy Champion, here playing Hammond organ. Champion also functions as the mixing engineer as part of a production team that also includes Williams and John Bradford. It’s a tight knit jazz scene in the North East.

Album opener “Anything” sets the scene, with Susans featuring on electric bass, his supple grooves and Walker’s tasteful, economical drumming underpinning Williams’ melodic guitar explorations. Williams features a pure, clean sound here and impresses in terms of technique, but without resorting to mere flashiness. Susans features with a melodic electric bass solo as Walker continues to add subtle, understated support.

“Three Halves” adds a stronger rock component and also sees Williams utilising his range of guitar effects more extensively. Both John Scofield and the late Allan Holdsworth have been suggested as sources of inspiration and there’s certainly something of Scofield in Williams’ sound here. Williams stretches out with a spiralling solo exhibiting a choked intensity, underscored by Susans’ fluid and mobile electric bass lines and Walker’s increasingly busy drumming. As its title appears to suggest the piece goes through a series of different phases including a more ambient passage towards the close, with Susans’ bass emulating an electronic pulse.

Williams features on acoustic guitar for the first time on “5-Way Stretch”, gravitating between the acoustic and electric versions of his instrument. His playing here is less intense, but no less focussed and there remains a strong emphasis on melody. Susans is featured with an electric bass solo, his approach suggesting a Steve Swallow influence rather than the more usual Jaco Pastorius. Again the piece progresses through a series of phases, including a short passage of unaccompanied electric guitar prior to a closing section where Walker’s drums come more to the fore, underscored by the leader’s rapidly pulsating guitar arpeggios.

Title track “Long Way Out” (in the ocean?, in space?) features a dramatic and atmospheric intro that sees Williams again dipping into his bag of guitar effects and deploying looping and delay techniques. The trio make effective use of space to convey a sense of openness as Williams solos above a monolithic bass and drum groove, his playing strongly rock influenced and eventually heading for the stratosphere, despite some gentler diversions along the way, the final climax delivering a meteor shower of effects.

A rumbling, slyly funky electric bass groove introduces “No More”, a fast moving piece fuelled by buoyant rhythms and featuring an array of guitar led passages utilising a variety of sounds and effects. Pulsating bass grooves and Walker’s crisp, propulsive drumming help to keep things moving in the early stages, but there’s also a loosely structured, spacey interlude part way through featuring the sounds of mallet rumbles and cymbal shimmers allied to ambient guitar effects. When the groove returns its more powerful than ever, culminating is a series of power chords at the close.

“Recovery Blues” taps into the spirit of bluesiness that is always just below the surface in Williams’ music. Susans’ supple electric bass grooves and Walker’s precise drumming are again the perfect foil for Williams’ peregrinations, the guitarist’s playing bright, melodic, imaginative and intelligent as he skilfully marshals his array of effects. Williams always seems to deploy just the right sound, but that doesn’t mean that his playing is in any way predictable. This is also due to the quality of the writing, which is multi-faceted and full of unexpected twists and turns. This threesome find a lot to say within what some might say is the limited format of the guitar trio. Of course, it’s not just down to Williams and this piece also includes engaging features for both Susans and Walker.

The album concludes with “Weird Country”, which begins in suitably atmospheric fashion with a lengthy effects laden intro that evokes images of fog swirling around the ‘blasted heath’. Eventually the leader’s plangent acoustic guitar emerges out of the fog subsequently joined by bass and drums. The further introduction of Champion on Hammond imparts the music with a hymnal / gospel feel as Williams doubles on electric guitar but solos on acoustic. Champion is best known as a bassist, but he does a great job at the manuals here. Instead it’s Susan who features on electric bass before the tune meanders to its conclusion via passages variously led by organ and guitar.

With “Long Way Out” Williams has recorded a worthy follow up to the excellent “Last Bus To Bensham”. Once again the writing is intelligent and varied and Williams’ own playing is consistently imaginative and technically accomplished. He conjures an impressive array of sounds and textures from his guitars and he receives excellent support from Susans and Walker in what is a very well balanced trio with an impressively tight rapport strengthened by regular gigging. Champion also makes a distinctive and vital contribution to the track that he is involved in, while also playing a vital role throughout at the mixing desk.

But it’s the quality of the writing that really impresses. Williams’ tunes are anything but predictable and keep the listener consistently engaged. Combining jazz and rock influences this is a particularly intelligent brand of ‘fusion’ that makes for very rewarding listening.

Although I’ve seen Williams perform live with Zoe Gilby on numerous occasions I’ve yet to see him perform with his trio. It’s something that I’d very much like to do if they can be persuaded to come and play somewhere further south. They’d be a good fit for the Music Spoken Here series presented by promoter Dave Fuller at The Marr’s Bar in Worcester. On the evidence of the two recordings that I have reviewed one would imagine that they would be a very exciting live prospect.

In the meantime there is still this album to enjoy. My thanks to Mark for sending it my way and hope to see you at a gig again sometime.

 

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