by Ian Mann
October 14, 2014
/ ALBUM
Cath Roberts is an emerging talent and "Quadraceratops" represents an outstanding début. This is a musician and a band that we will doubtless be hearing a lot more of.
Quadraceratops
“Quadraceratops”
(Efpi Records FP020)
Originally from Northamptonshire saxophonist and composer Cath Roberts is now based in London and has become a particularly vital and creative presence on the capital’s jazz scene. Besides leading the septet Quadraceratops she also performs with the Madwort Saxophone Quartet and the eight piece improvising saxophone ensemble Saxoctopus. She also constitutes half of the duo Ripsaw Catfish, a collaboration with Manchester based guitarist Anton Hunter of Beats & Pieces Big Band fame. Presumably it’s her connection with Hunter that has led to Quadraceratops’ début recording being issued on the Manchester based Efpi record label.
Besides her playing and writing skills Roberts is also a formidable organiser and together with fellow saxophonist Dee Byrne curates the regular LUME jazz and improvised music events that take place at the Long White Cloud in Hackney. With Dan Paton she has also been involved with the occasional “Collisions” series of double bills at The Albany in Great Portland Street.
However it is Quadraceratops that represents Roberts’ main collective outlet. The seven piece band was originally assembled to perform Roberts’ masters recital at London’s Guildhall School of Music in 2011 and has since acquired a life of its own. Besides Roberts on alto sax ( in other situations she also plays baritone) the ensemble also features Tom Ward on tenor, Magnus Dearness on trombone, Henry Spencer on trumpet, Dave O’Brien on keyboards, Jason Simpson on double bass and Olly Blackman at the drums. The group name, that of a fictional dinosaur, is an oblique and humorous reference to the fact that there are four horns in the band.
O’Brien is a particularly significant presence as Roberts cites the music of his short lived ensemble Porpoise Corpus as a substantial influence on her own band. Back in 2007 Porpoise Corpus released an eponymous album for F-ire Presents which gained favourable reviews (mine amongst them, I thought it was an excellent CD) but they seemed to find it difficult to get regular live work and subsequently seemed to disappear, with O’Brien often found operating as a jobbing bassist.
Other influences on Roberts include saxophonists Steve Coleman and John Zorn, drummer Jim Black and Bad Plus bassist Reid Anderson. Roberts also cites the inspiration of hip hop artists J Dilla, Madlib and MF Doom, particularly the “Madvillainy” collaboration between these last two.
This first Quadraceratops album comes packaged in a trademark Efpi cardboard sleeve (featuring Robert’s own artwork) and the seven Roberts compositions reference a wide array of cultural influences. Opener “Dinner With Patrick” references Patrick Bateman the protagonist in Brett Easton Ellis’ novel “American Psycho”. Jazz on 3’s Jez Nelson has described Roberts’ music as being “suitably psychotic!” and there’s something of that quality here with neurotic stop/start passages that variously recall Django Bates, WorldService Project, and of course Porpoise Corpus. The dynamic contrasts are presumably designed to portray Patrick’s mood swings and there’s a convincingly claustrophobic atmosphere about the whole piece.
There’s some excellent ensemble playing with the four horns coalescing to create an admirably big and powerful sound. Solos come from Dearness on delightfully woozy, vocalised trombone and Ward on more straightforward tenor.
“Song For The Worker Bee” is based on a groove written at a F-ire Collective workshop. At its heart is the distinctive sound of O’Brien’s Fender Rhodes. He takes the first solo here, generating an impressive variety of keyboard sounds and textures and his consistently imaginative playing is a constant source of delight throughout the album. In what has been described as a “Bitches Brew style wigout” Henry Spencer also comes to the fore with some dazzling high register trumpeting. In addition to the solos there is some more fine ensemble playing, the execution precise but exciting.
“Chair-O-Planes” is the oldest piece in the group’s repertoire and was originally written as part of Roberts’ Guildhall recital. It begins with an unaccompanied fanfare by the horns and deploys a “hocketting” technique to build up a groove. The interplay between the horns is impressive throughout creating rich textures in the style of a mini Loose Tubes. Roberts is the first featured soloist, her explorations skilfully shadowed by keyboards, bass and drums. We also hear from Dearness, this time with a rumbustious solo that deploys a more conventional trombone sound.
Simpson’s double bass groove introduces “Open Sandwich” and remains at the heart of this highly rhythmic, sometimes funky piece. Originally conceived as “something controlled and stripped down” the tune takes a wilder, heavier turn with O’Brien’s, trippy, wigged out Rhodes solo and Ward’s garrulous, belligerent tenor blowing.
The delicate “Spiderling” brings a welcome change of mood and pace as O’Brien switches to acoustic piano. With the horns playing a simple, harmonised figure throughout there’s something of a case of role reversal as the rhythm section take the chance to stretch out, their playing freely structured and increasingly assertive as the piece progresses, O’Brien producing Keith Tippett style runs and leaps accompanied by Blackman’s skittering drums.
O’Brien remains at the acoustic piano for “Calico”, Roberts’ charming dedication to her tortoiseshell cat. In a piece that seems to depict the capricious nature of the domestic moggy Spencer’s majestic trumpeting helps to distinguish the first section of the tune. Later there are hard driving free jazz squalls alternating with lyrical passages of solo piano and finally the return of the attractively melodic theme. Such multi faceted writing is a distinguishing feature of the album as a whole. As a composer and arranger Roberts displays both great promise and great maturity.
The title of the concluding “Flying South” references Roberts’ move to South London. Bright, punchy horns combine with a killer Rhodes groove before the lengthy piece becomes the vehicle for a variety of soloists. Dearness goes first with a hard hitting trombone solo but there’s change of dynamics for Simpson’s double bass feature. Roberts’ solo smoulders with a cool intensity while O’Brien’s Rhodes solo recalls the sound of Canterbury style prog. All this is allied to yet more colourful, richly textured ensemble playing as the album ends on an epic flourish.
Cath Roberts is an emerging talent and “Quadraceratops” represents an outstanding début. This is a musician and a band that we will doubtless be hearing a lot more of. O’Brien is arguably the most distinctive instrumentalist but the album is probably best regarded as a superb team effort, superbly guided by leader Roberts. Credit is also due to the engineering team of Ben Lamdin, Alex Bonney and Peter Beckmann for an excellent, well delineated sound mix.
O’Brien’s contribution led to me digging out and enjoying the Porpoise Corpus album all over again. I’d even forgotten that Ward was a part of that band, this time playing alto alongside Tom Challenger’s tenor.
Quadraceratops will be performing at the 2014 London Jazz Festival. Details as follows;
LUME: Quadraceratops and Entropi
Thursday 20 November 2014 | 8:30PM, £5.00
Long White Cloud
151 Hackney Road
London
E2 8JL
Entropi is a vehicle for composition and improvisation, led by Dee Byrne. Cath Roberts then leads Quadraceratops in her compositions.
http://www.efglondonjazzfestival.org.uk