Mike Walker

“Madhouse And The Whole Thing There”

Guitarist Mike Walker has recently been attracting the kind of acclaim that has long been his due. The end of year summaries at the close of 2010 saw many critics falling over themselves to praise Walker’s contribution to the Anglo- American super-group now known as The Impossible Gentlemen.

Walker, pianist Gwilym Simcock, electric bassist Steve Swallow and drummer Adam Nussbaum toured the UK to great acclaim last summer with most of the compositions coming from the British half of the equation. The freshly named quartet are due to release an album on Basho Records later in 2011 and to tour the UK again in June.

I reviewed the quartet’s Swansea show under the group name Simcock/Walker/Swallow/Nussbaum and it was there that Mike was kind enough to give me a copy of his 2008 album “Madness And The Whole Thing There” for review purposes. Apologies to Mike for not covering it before now but with Walker currently the subject of mass critical acclamation now seems like a good time to add to the chorus of approval.

Walker has been a mainstay of the UK jazz scene for many years and a prolific sideman for saxophonist Julian Arguelles among many others. His retiring nature and his insistence on remaining in his native Manchester have perhaps prevented him becoming a favourite of the London cognoscenti-until now.

“Madhouse” is Walker’s first album as a leader and it is a hugely ambitious work adding vocals, speech samples, strings and big band textures to the work of a core Mancunian quintet consisting of Walker (guitar), Iain Dixon (reeds), John Ellis (keyboards), Sylvan Richardson (electric bass) and Myke Wilson (drums). The playing by the quintet is exemplary throughout but the additional voices and instruments give the music an almost cinematic scope that is hugely impressive.

Although the album derives it’s inspiration from what might seem a sombre source, Walker’s late mother’s struggles with schizophrenia (or bi-polar disorder as it is now more commonly referred to), much of the music is strangely celebratory. At times Walker draws inspiration from US guitar greats such as Pat Metheny and John Scofield but “Madhouse” has a distinctively British, even Northern, quality that is all it’s own. Personal problems and industry politics delayed the release of this album for many years with Walker feeling simultaneously relieved and vindicated when the album finally appeared after years in the planning.

The album begins in celebratory fashion with the samba of “A Real Embrace”. Djamila Skoglund-Voss’ soaring wordless vocal is underscored by the immaculately arranged Madhouse Strings. There’s a wonderfully warm tenor sax solo from Iain Dixon and Chris Manis’ exotic percussion also helps to keep the pot bubbling. Walker’s delicate acoustic guitar is curiously understated. There are similarities here to the sound of the Pat Metheny Group and others have drawn parallels with Klaus Ogermann’s work for the CTI label in the 70’s. I usually cite CTI in a pejorative sense but I only have admiration for Walker’s work here. The luxuriousness of the sound and breadth of vision on this track recall Metheny at his best and Walker adds a touch of that aforementioned Northern melancholy to boot.

The following “Owed To JC” is not the usual jazz musician’s homage to John Coltrane. Instead Walker honours his fellow Mancunian, the punk/street poet John Cooper Clarke. The album title comes from a Clarke poem and Walker returns the compliment with a Clarke style poem of his own which is reproduced on the CD packaging. It’s not bad.
The tune itself is a nine minute tour de force of intelligent, articulate music which combines fusion elements with big band textures. Additional horns complement Dixon’s gruff but articulate baritone solo, Mark Hart narrates Walker’s poem, and the composer adds soaring Scofield style guitar that references jazz, blues and rock . Ellis, Richardson, Wilson and the horns add a splendidly propulsive, subtly funky backdrop which spurs soloists Dixon and Walker to great heights. 

Credited to “The Band” the punchy, powerful “In Two Minds” owes its genesis to a group improvisation. It’s a sturdy slice of jazz/rock fusion with Walker’s stratospheric guitar soaring above the powerhouse rhythms laid down by Ellis,Richardson and Wilson with the drummer in impressively pugnacious form. It may be brief and unashamedly retro but it’s also splendidly exciting and invigorating.

The even shorter “Still Slippy Underfoot” comes as a complete contrast, a brief calming interlude featuring Dixon on clarinet and Alan Tokely on French horn floating above Paul Kilvington’s synthesised backwash. It’s a delectable little palette cleanser and I can’t actually detect Walker playing on it at all.

That’s probably because he’s saving himself for the album’s centre piece, the twelve minute “I’ll Tell ‘im”. Sampled speech and choral vocals weave in and out of this punchy fusion epic that sees Walker, Ellis and Dixon exchanging ideas propelled by Wilson’s relentless rhythms. The comparative simplicity of the backing contrasts with the complexity of the ideas,colours and textures being conjured up by the front line soloists. The piece is climaxed by the searing intensity of Walker’s guitar. Its impressive stuff with Walker fully achieving all his objectives.

After the intensity of “I’ll Tell ‘im” the final piece, “Dad Logic” closes the album on almost elegiac note. Walker welcomes back the additional horns of trumpeters Neil Yates and Paul Newton, alto saxophonist Andy Schofield and flautist Suzanne Higgins. Guest pianist Nikki Iles adds a flowing solo and there’s also a splendidly eloquent solo from Walker himself, his guitar soaring gracefully above a backdrop of wordless vocals. It ends a very good album on a suitably upbeat note and there’s a sense of Walker having reached some kind of closure.

“Madhouse…” represents an excellent début album. Impressive in its scope and ambition it reveals Walker to be an imaginative composer as well as being one of Britain’s finest guitar players. Although the album is relatively short by modern day standards Walker doesn’t waste an idea and the record’s conciseness becomes a virtue. “Madhouse…” has a finished, almost conceptual feel, there’s the sense of a story being completed.

Walker’s compositional skills will undoubtedly be heard again on the impending The Impossible Gentlemen album. He made a strong contribution of material to the group’s tour last year, none of it sourced from “Madhouse..”, and his new pieces should be well worth hearing on disc on what is sure to be one of the most eagerly anticipated albums of 2011. While we’re waiting for that “Madhouse…” is highly recommended.

 

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