I’ve waited a long time to see this band perform live, almost from the day the review copy of their début album “Organic Warfare” dropped though my letterbox a couple of years ago. Both “Organic Warfare” and its follow up “Green Delay” are reviewed elsewhere on this site. These are excellent albums, full of sophisticated musical ideas but with a rhythmic drive and an innate tunefulness that makes for adventurous but accessible listening. Phronesis brought all these qualities to bear in an enjoyable but all too brief performance at The Edge which was enthusiastically received by a healthy, if not quite capacity crowd in the smaller of the centre’s two performance spaces.

I have been lucky enough to see Phronesis’ bass playing leader Jasper Hoiby perform in a number of other contexts. Copenhagen born but London based, the big Dane has become a pivotal figure on the UK jazz scene with connections with both the F-ire and Loop collectives. I’ve seen him perform with singer Julia Biel, vibraphonist Jim Hart’s Gemini and most recently with saxophonist Adam Waldmann’s Kairos 4tet. He has also visited The Edge before as part of pianist Ivo Neame’s quartet.
Neame too is a musician with a burgeoning reputation. He is now an integral part of Phronesis having taken over the piano stool for “Green Delay” replacing Danish pianist Magnus Hjorth. Drummer Anton Eger appears on both studio albums but was replaced tonight by American drummer Mark Guiliana. When I spoke to Hoiby at the recent Kairos 4tet performance in Birmingham he told me how excited he was to have Guiliana on board and on the evidence of tonight’s performance you could see why. The 29 year old American leads his own group Beat Music and has recently completed a lengthy tenure as drummer of choice in bassist Avishai Cohen’s band. He’s clearly a name to watch on the international jazz scene.

Just prior to this gig at The Edge the trio of Hoiby, Neame and Guiliana had played two nights at The Forge Arts Centre in Camden with the music being recorded for a live album due out on Edition Records later in the year. If tonight was anything to go by the finished product should be well worth hearing when the time comes around.

Although I’ve seen Hoiby in other contexts I was particularly keen to see him leading his own group. All the tunes in the Phronesis repertoire come from the pen of the bassist and for me they hit the spot pretty much every time. Often groove based they contain winning leitmotifs and little fragments of melody around which the trio weave their increasingly sophisticated improvisations.  On “Organic Warfare” Hoiby deliberately kept things harmonically simple preferring to concentrate on melody and rhythm. The presence of the inventive Neame adds a greater degree of harmonic sophistication and in this sense “Green Delay” is a step forward from it’s already very good predecessor. I rather like the immediacy of “Organic Warfare” and wouldn’t like to choose a favourite between the two records. Significantly the choice of material tonight was spread pretty evenly between the two albums with a new tune, “Eight Hours” and a single outside composition (from Thelonious Monk, but more of that later) thrown in for good measure. 

The trio opened with “Untitled”, one of their most melodic pieces and one which appears in two versions on the début recording “Organic Warfare.” The memorable theme emphasised the melodic qualities of Hoiby’s writing and served as a good introduction to the voices of the band. Hoiby has a huge bass sound that gives the trio a powerful groove whilst remaining extremely flexible. This is a trio that is high on group interaction and their music is constantly unfolding. Hoiby’s intelligent, cerebrally funky playing was complemented by Guiliana’s crisp, intelligent, highly detailed drumming delivered almost entirely with sticks yet never becoming too loud or overbearing. As the only harmonic instrument Neame’s piano is inevitably the glue that holds it altogether. An increasingly mature player overall Neame has grown into his role in Phronesis and his complex, spiralling lines and sophisticated melodic and harmonic ideas were the perfect foil for the rhythmic inventiveness of his colleagues. A passage for solo piano acted as a bridge as the trio segued into “Blue Inspiration” from the album “Green Delay” with Neame opening out to deliver the first of many memorable solos over the course of the evening.

“French” from the début album was introduced by a solo bass passage from Hoiby and later incorporated a virtuoso solo from the leader in a piece here powered by Guiliana’s insistent snare drum groove.

The new tune “Eight Hours” displayed a greater sense of lyricism with Hoiby revealing   his sensitive side in a well constructed bass solo.

“Abraham’s New Gift” the rousing opening track from “Green Delay” closed the first half in invigorating fashion. Introduced by solo bass the piece quickly established an E.S.T. style groove
with Neame sometimes reaching into his instrument’s innards to dampen the strings. Following bravura solos from Hoiby and Neame the piece concluded with a dynamic series of drum breaks from the increasingly impressive Guiliana.

Neame’s meditative solo piano opened the second set expanding into a joyous solo as the band kicked in on the appropriately titled “Happy Notes” from the “Green Delay” album. The dialogue between Guiliana’s drums and Hoiby’s bass was particularly absorbing as Neame dropped out and the piece concluded with another brilliant feature for the trio’s star drummer.

Also from “Green Delay” the initially brooding “Blackout” featured Neame’s probing piano above Hoiby’s darkly resonant bass and Guiliana’s subtly colourful drum accompaniment.

“Love Song”, arguably the stand out track on the second album began with playful dialogue between bass and piano before Hoiby established a powerful groove underpinning the melodic fragments and fleeting leitmotifs. The lead changed hands several times in this continually unfolding but always rhythmically centred piece. Hoiby soloed first followed by a brief solo piano interlude then an explosive drum feature. The groove and theme returned again before the end of a superb trio performance delivered with consummate skill and a high level of group interaction.

The trio returned to one of the key cuts from the first album to conclude the second half. “Smoking The Camel” is perhaps a reference to Hoiby’s nicotine habit but it’s also a fine piece of music that saw Guiliana displaying a delicate, shimmering cymbal touch via the deployment of a single soft head mallet. His subtle drum colourings gave way to a bass led dialogue between Hoiby and Neame before the bassist set up a groove that dictated the mood of the second half of the piece. Hoiby’s exuberant bass solo was succeeded by Neame’s cascading piano and finally Guiliana’s propulsive drums.

An enthusiastic Edge audience bayed for more and the trio returned to perform a reprise of “Untitled”, the tune that effectively bookends “Organic Warfare”. Hoiby and Neame resumed their dialogue and Neame delivered another engrossing solo.

Even this wasn’t enough for the faithful and the Edge’s ever resourceful manager/promoter Alison Vermee had to coerce the trio to return to the stage. Having exhausted their planned set list Hoiby handed over to Neame to choose a standard to play for this impromptu second encore. The pianist led the trio into a playful version of Thelonious Monk’s “Take The Coltrane” featuring solos from both piano and bass and a series of scintillating drum breaks from Guiliana.
Like just about every other event I’ve attended at The Edge the concert was a triumph. Hoiby’s blend of knotty, complex yet thoroughly accessible and enjoyable music made a huge impression on the audience and CD sales were correspondingly brisk with most people snapping up both albums.
My only complaint would be that the evening was too short but that might be a reflection on just how absorbing this music was, challenging but never overwhelmingly difficult for the listener. Hoiby’s band have transcended their early E.S.T. influences and have now established a strong identity of their own as one of the best and most distinctive piano/bass/drums configurations around.

Tonight’s date was the last on the current tour to feature Guiliana. For me he was a new and major discovery and I’m pleased I got the chance to see him play and to speak briefly to him afterwards. He’s about to tour with singer and oud player Dhafer Youssef and will also be appearing with his own band Beat Music at Charlie Wright’s in London on March 26th 2010. Meanwhile the Phronesis tour continues with Danish musician Magnus Hylander Friis taking over the drum chair. Catch them if you can.

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