The Rich O’Brien Project

“Horizons”

Rich O’Brien is a Bristol based bass player, composer and educator with a busy performance schedule. An electric bass specialist O’Brien features with a number of combos including Mango Factory, Trip The Switch, Murrumbidgee, In Extremis and the Trish Brown Band. A music graduate he is versatile enough to also have had some involvement with classical and choral music.

But it’s his self titled Project that remains O’Brien’s main creative outlet, a sextet that embraces elements of jazz, funk, soul and r’n'b and which exhibits an obvious love of its various sources. The self released “Horizons”, comprised entirely of songs and instrumentals written by O’Brien, represents the Project’s third release following the EP “Frisky” and the full length album “Hot Potato”. 

I’ve been lucky enough to see the Project play live a couple of times at one of my regular haunts, the Queens Head in Monmouth. I can confirm that they’re a highly talented young outfit capable of laying down some mighty tight grooves and topping these off with some blistering instrumental solos. The Monmouth gigs have been purely instrumental and have concentrated on the jazz and funk sides of the Project’s repertoire but the album also edges closer to soul with the inclusion of a couple of vocal tracks.

The core band on “Horizons” features O’Brien on bass, Joe Price on guitar, Jon Herbert on alto sax, Gary Alesbrook on flugelhorn and Matt Brown at the drums. On keyboards is Dale Hambridge, one of the most in demand pianists on the Bristol jazz scene. Guest vocals come from Jack Skuse and Victoria Klewin with Skuse also being involved in the album’s engineering process.

O’Brien is doubtless influenced by masters of the electric bass such as Marcus Miller, Victor Wooten, Stanley Clarke and the inevitable Jaco Pastorius. He’s a versatile player with a prodigious technique and is a more than capable sight reader, hence his involvement with so many groups and music genres.

The opening “Co-incidence” is a perfect encapsulation of the Project’s sound. Taut, funky bass lines combine with punchy horns and sinuous keyboards to produce an irresistible mix of hard driving grooves and seductive melodies. Alesbrook is the featured soloist, demonstrating jazz chops and an admirable fluency on flugel. 

Despite the title “Strawberry Kisses”  hits even harder, driven by O’Brien’s propulsive grooves, Price’s choppy guitar and Brown’s sturdy drumming. The leader takes the first solo, agile and funky on electric bass, driven by Brown’s drums and underpinned by swirling Hammond. Price brings a real rock influence to bear with a coruscating solo and the two horns combine effectively to play us out over the increasingly effective funk grooves. 

“Juvenile” is cut from the same cloth, fat, earthy funk grooves tempered by the sweetness of the horns. Alesbrook’s flugel solo moves up the gears from breathy introspection to something more strident and Herbert later soars on alto.

The music edges closer to soul and r’n'b with “Promiscuous” which features the guest vocals of Jack Skuse, the singer adopting something of a “lover man” persona. The grooves are typically tight and funky and Hambridge impresses on Rhodes but I prefer the band as an instrumental ensemble. Not that there’s anything wrong with this, indeed it’s very effective in its own way, it’s just a matter of personal taste. Skuse is a member of Trip The Switch and also appeared on the “Hot Potato” album. 

“Ricardinho”, no doubt named by and for the leader, evokes an authentic after hours feeling with its gritty urban grooves and noirish horns, guitar and keyboards. Solos come from Herbert on subtly probing alto and Hambridge on electric piano, the latter also drenching the music with vintage string synth sounds. Price’s soaring solo draws on rock and blues and the piece plays out with a return to the sounds of the intro.

The following “Horizons Interlude” maintains the mood. Although effectively the title track it’s essentially a tantalising sketch that combines long, elegant horn lines with shimmering Rhodes and guitar above a slow hip hop type groove. 

“Stay” is the second vocal item and features a duet between Skuse and Victoria Klewin. This is even closer to blue eyed soul and again not quite my cup of tea, but the vocal performances are impressive and I also love the sound of Hambridge’s Hammond with Price sharing the instrumental honours with a typically concise and effective solo.
A glance at Klewin’s website reveals that she is a versatile vocalist who can perform across a variety of genres. This includes fronting her own jazz quartet featuring some of Bristol’s leading jazz talents, among them the highly talented pianist Jim Blomfield.

The album concludes in reflective mood with the brief “Nostalgia” which I take to be a solo piece for electric bass despite the guitar like timbres and full chording. Perhaps the likes of Steve Swallow and Back Door’s Colin Hodgkinson should be added to the list of O’Brien’s influences.

I can’t pretend that there’s anything earth shattering about this album but there’s no denying O’Brien’s technical ability, and the obvious love of his sources and of what he does shines out in his playing. Indeed everybody performs well throughout “Horizons”, including the vocalists, making this a great team effort. O’Brien is simultaneously a member of a number of vocal ensembles and singing is therefore an important component of his music making.

“Horizons” has much to recommend it, including O’Brien’s writing, but the best place to hear him is undoubtedly in a live situation where the listener can immerse themselves in the groove as well as checking out the impressive technical abilities of O’Brien and the members of his group.

I hope to catch up with the Project again on Easter Sunday (20th April 2014) at the Queens Head in Monmouth. O’Brien’s busy schedule also involves a number of gigs in his home city of Bristol. Check out his website http://www.richardobrienmusic.com for details.   

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