Philip Clouts Quartet, Kidderminster Jazz Club, St. Ambrose Parish Centre, Kidderminster, Worcs. 07/02/2025

Philip Clouts – piano, Samuel Eagles – alto saxophone, Marcus Penrose – double bass, Ted Carrasco – drums

Kidderminster Jazz Club’s first event of 2025 attracted a pleasingly large and appreciative audience to St. Ambrose, on what was rather an inclement evening weather-wise, to enjoy this performance of largely original music from the Philip Clouts Quartet.

Pianist and composer Clouts is something of a Jazzmann favourite and he has appeared on these web pages on numerous occasions. I have favourably reviewed his quartet albums “Sennen Cove”  (2010), “The Hour of Pearl” (2013) and “Umoya” (2015). Prior to this he had recorded the trio album “Direction South”, first issued in 2004 and re-released digitally in 2020. All four of Clouts’ albums are available via his Bandcamp page here;
https://philipclouts.bandcamp.com/music

I have also covered previous live performances in Abergavenny and Brecon, the latter with a one off ‘Welsh Quartet’. Guest contributor Colin May also enjoyed a 2023 performance by Clouts’ regular working quartet at Jazz at St. Giles in Oxford.

Born in South Africa Clouts has lived in the UK since early childhood but elements of African music and culture still exert a strong influence on his playing and composing. His parents were big fans of South African jazz and through them the young Clouts was introduced to the music of South African cultural icons such as pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim, trumpeter / vocalist Hugh Masekela and vocalist Miriam Makeba.

Clouts first came to my attention as a member of the band Zubop, a popular London based jazz/roots combo that released a series of consistently enjoyable albums for the 33 Records label during the 1990s and early 2000s. The group exhibited a particular affinity for the music of the Gambia and in early 2003 toured the UK with an extended line up featuring the Gambian musicians Juldeh Camara and Njega Sohna. A live album, “Zubop Gambia”, largely recorded at Ronnie Scott’s, was subsequently released on 33 and is still available at Clouts’ live shows. I saw the Zubop Gambia band at Ludlow Assembly Rooms on 30th January 2003 but have only recently acquired a copy of that live album.

Various personnel have served in the ranks of the Clouts quartet, including saxophonist Carlos Lopez Real, bassists Alex Keen and Tim Fairhall and drummers Sean Randle,  Paul Cavacuiti, Jon Desbruslais  and Dave Ingamells.

Tonight’s show featured the latest line up with Samuel Eagles, who played on “Umoya”, on alto sax plus a rhythm section of Marcus Penrose on double bass and Ted Carrasco at the drums. Eagles and Carrasco had been in the band when they played at Black Mountain Jazz in Abergavenny in October 2022. The bassist on that occasion was Tim Fairhall and I suspect that Penrose may have been ‘depping’ for him.

Following the demise of Zubop Clouts has concentrated on a solo career. He also moved out of London and relocated to Lyme Regis in Dorset, where he still lives. It is still relatively unusual for a nationally known musician to be based so far out of the capital but the countryside and coastline of South West England has proved to be particularly inspirational for Clouts and this has fed into his writing, most notably on the “Sennen Cove” album.

As a writer Clouts draws inspiration from many musical sources with the music of South Africa still a particularly vital component. But he also embraces the sounds of Tanzania, North Africa, West Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, New Orleans and British and European folk music. Musically speaking he’s a true global citizen who blends these various influences together to create a distinctive brand of music that is both sophisticated and accessible, with a strong focus on both rhythm and melody. It’s a sound that has proved to be very popular with UK jazz audiences, this reflected in the size of tonight’s attendance on a very wintry February evening.

It may have been cold outside but Clouts and his colleagues brought a ray of aural sunshine to Kidderminster with a musical ‘world tour’ that explored various areas of the globe and embraced many of Clouts’ musical influences.

Vibrant opener “Tilt” exhibited a strong Latin American influence with Eagles stating the theme before handing over to the leader for the first solo of the night. Clouts then returned the compliment, with Eagles stepping up to make his mark as a featured soloist. This tune is yet to be recorded but has been a part of the Quartet’s live sets for some time. It’s been nearly ten years since “Umoya” was recorded and a new Philip Clouts album is very much overdue.

From the “Hour of Pearl” album “On West Hill” introduced something of a gospel flavour on a piece inspired both by the writing of John Steinbeck, specifically “Cannery Row”, and the name of Clouts’ street in Lyme Regis. Eagles stated the melodic theme on alto before soloing more expansively. He was followed by the leader on piano and Penrose on double bass.

The title track of the “Umoya” album represented the first exploration of Clouts’ South African heritage.  Named for the Zulu word meaning ‘life force’ or ‘life spirit’  this piece revealed a more obvious South African influence. Clouts has named the South African pianists Abdullah Ibrahim and Chris McGregor, of Brotherhood of Breath, as significant inspirations on his playing and composing.  Eagles’ theme statement was followed by solos from piano and saxophone, with Carrasco’s drums also playing a prominent role in the arrangement.

Inspired by traditional Tanzanian music the beautiful “Nyasa Lullaby” first appeared on the 2004 trio album “Direction South”.  Based on the notes of a single scale it was introduced by  Clouts at the piano, first joined in dialogue by Carrasco’s small percussion and subsequently by mallet rumbles and cymbal shimmers. Piano arpeggios then underpinned Eagles’ alto sax melody before the group moved into piano trio mode for a thoughtful and gently exploratory solo from Clouts, with Carrasco still a part of the dialogue and deploying a combination of mallets and sticks. Eagles’ melodic sax returned before the close, with the sound of cymbal scrapes concluding a beautiful and atmospheric performance.

The first set concluded with the new tune “Marula”, named for a dome shaped nut tree that grows on the South African savannah. Exhibiting an appropriately South African influence this lively piece picked the pace up once more and incorporated solos from Eagles and Clouts plus a drum feature from the impressive Carrasco. An exciting way to end an excellent first half.

The second set began where the first had left off with an upbeat performance of the New Orleans inspired composition “Going to Congo Square”. Carrasco’s military style drum intro imitated the sound of marching bands with Eagles stating the melodic theme and taking the first solo before handing over to the leader for a more expansive exploration at the piano. On such a vibrant and rhythmic piece it was only fitting that the performance should also incorporate a Carrasco drum feature.

The aptly titled “Solitude” was described by Clouts as “a lockdown piece” and drew its inspiration from the 1979 Keith Jarrett recording “Sacred Hymns of G.I. Gurdjieff”, the American pianist’s interpretations of music composed by the late Armenian mystic G.I. Gurdjieff. Clouts spoke of Gurdjieff’s “simple, powerful melodies” and explained that “Solitude” was his attempt to write a piece exhibiting similar qualities. The result was an undeniably beautiful tune situated somewhere between a hymn and a jazz ballad that incorporated an atmospheric intro featuring wispy alto sax melodies and the sounds of mallet rumbles and cymbal shimmers followed by a delightfully lyrical piano solo complemented by beguiling alto sax counter melodies. The piece then closed with an unaccompanied sax cadenza. A word too for the sensitivity of Carrasco’s performance, the drummer deploying brushes throughout.

The following “Scintillate” increased the tempo once more and exhibited more of a straight ahead / bebop jazz feel, but even so it was less frenetic than its title might suggest, with the focus still very much on melody. Nevertheless it still elicited subtly probing solos from Clouts at the piano and Eagles on alto.

“Biram Blues” was inspired by the biram instrument, a five string harp lute played in North Africa, a region that Clouts described as “the cradle of the blues”. He then went on to explain that the harmonica was a 19th century invention inspired by the aeolian, or wind, harp – hence the use by bluesmen of the word ‘harp’ to describe a harmonica. Counted in by Carrasco this piece featured infectious alto sax melodies played over hard driving, near funk rhythms and included concise solos from Clouts, Eagles and Penrose.

The set closed with “Rubik’s Rubric”, a rhythmically complex piece with another arresting theme that provided the jumping off point for expansive and energetic solos from Eagles and Clouts, these fuelled by the restless polyrhythmic flow of Carrasco’s drumming, the man behind the kit being rewarded for his efforts with his own feature towards the close.

This high quality original music was well received by the Kidderminster audience and it needed precious little prompting from organiser Annette Gregory to persuade the band to remain on stage for a well deserved encore. This proved to be the only cover of the evening, a joyous, celebratory rendition of the classic Abdullah Ibrahim composition “Mandela”, introduced by Clouts at the piano and featuring solos from himself, Eagles and Carrasco.

This had been an excellent evening of music making and CD sales were correspondingly brisk, always the sign of a good gig. It was a very similar set to the one that Clouts had played in Abergavenny in 2022 and it really is high time that Clouts’ newer tunes were documented on disc. This is music that deserves to be widely heard and to be permanently documented.

As ever the musical performance was complemented by Clouts’ succinct between tunes announcements which gave just the right amount of information about each individual piece, but without resorting to unnecessary jocularity. Some may have found his style a little ‘schoolmasterly’, but I found that it very much enhanced my enjoyment of the music. It’s good to know what to listen out for, and that snippet of information about the blues harp was fascinating. I’m also a blues listener and I’d often been intrigued by that particular piece of terminology. My thanks to Philip and to Marcus Penrose for speaking with me after the show.

So, a great start to the 2025 season at Kidderminster Jazz Club and I have to say that so far this year healthy attendances have been a feature at all of the local jazz clubs that I support on a regular basis.  It’s good to see, especially just after Christmas and with some pretty horrible weather around.

Well done to the jazz listening public of the Midlands and South Wales. Keep supporting live music!

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