by Ian Mann
March 12, 2015
/ ALBUM
An impressive performance by a very well balanced trio.
Mike Fletcher Trio
“Vuelta”
(Stoney Lane Records SLR 1931)
Welcome to another piece in my occasional series “Jazz Will Eat Itself” in which I brazenly cannibalise my own writings.
This time the reason behind such shamelessly lazy journalism is to recommend to you the new album by Birmingham based saxophonist and composer Mike Fletcher which features him playing the rarely heard C melody saxophone (plus occasional flute) in the company of London based musicians Olie Brice (double bass) and Jeff Williams (drums).
On 30th January 2015 I saw the Fletcher Trio perform live at the CBSO Centre in Birmingham as part of a double bill that also included Williams’ own quartet. My account of the trio’s performance is reproduced below;
MIKE FLETCHER TRIO, CBSO CENTRE, BIRMINGHAM, 30/01/2015.
“First up was a trio led by the Birmingham based saxophonist and composer Mike Fletcher with a rhythm section comprised of Brice and Williams. Fletcher studied at Birmingham Conservatoire with Julian Siegel and others and has since travelled widely before settling back in the city. He runs the twelve piece Mike Fletcher Jazz Orchestra featuring leading jazz musicians from the Birmingham and London scenes plus the cleverly named nonet Different Trane with its five piece brass section and twin double basses, the music inspired equally by Steve Reich and John Coltrane.
However Fletcher is most likely to be seen leading a small group, sometimes a quartet, like the one I saw at the 2011 Harmonic Festival, or more likely a trio. Fletcher, Brice and Conservatoire graduate Tymoteusz Jozwiak recorded the freely improvised album “Nick Of Time” for the Slam record label in 2014.
Fletcher’s new trio teams him with Brice and Williams and this line up has recorded a new album “Vuelta” , recently released on the Birmingham based Stoney Lane Records. Although Fletcher plays a variety of reeds his current trio finds him specialising on the rarely heard C melody saxophone, an instrument somewhere in size between the alto and the tenor. This trio uses Fletcher’s compositions as the starting point for their improvisations, the resultant music occupying the hinterland between composition and improvisation / structure and freedom that seems to represent the ideal territory for musicians such as Williams and Brice.
The project has been encouraged by Fletcher’s receipt of an ECHO Rising Stars Award for 2014/15, a prize awarded by the European Concert Hall Organisation, an international body encouraging co-operation between the arts scenes across a variety of different countries. As a result Fletcher and his trio will get the opportunity to perform at a series of prestigious concert halls across Europe including a showcase event at Birmingham Town Hall on Wednesday May 13th 2015.
And so to tonight’s performance, which was being filmed although I couldn’t say by whom or what for. The film crew were pretty unobtrusive and didn’t get in the way of the music which began with Brice’s bass introducing “Aire”, the opening track on the trio’s new album. Fletcher has spent a lot of time in Iberia, the album title “Vuelta” is Spanish for “return” and “Aire” was inspired by the light of the sun on the Spanish coast. The wispy, faintly Moorish melody was a vehicle for Fletcher’s coolly elegant, gently probing improvising above Williams’ trademark “polyrhytmic flow”, a consistently unfolding and fluid display of rhythmic invention yet with the drummer’s style never seeming to be busy or cluttered. He’s a master of playing in this chordless context as evidenced by the recent “Valence”, a live recorded trio session led by Williams and featuring British bassist Sam Lasserson and American alto saxophonist John O’Gallagher.
A second piece, as yet unrecorded and currently going under the working title of “London” was more forceful and aggressive with deeply resonant bass and more sharply edged saxophone playing with Fletcher periodically squeezing a series of honks and squeaks out of his instrument. Meanwhile Brice’s bass solo constituted a compelling blend of impressive muscularity and great dexterity.
“A Dino” is a tune that has been in Fletcher’s repertoire for some time. Written as a tribute to the great Argentinian bandoneon player Dino Saluzzi I remember the saxophonist playing it on alto at Harmonic back in 2011. The version on “Vuelta” features Fletcher on flute but here he tackled it on the C melody, linking with Brice on the intro and contributing a typically subtle and gently exploratory solo later in the tune. Brice contributed another memorable solo, this time shadowed by Williams whose exquisite cymbal work with both mallets and brushes was a superlative reminder of his abilities as a colourist. Lovely.
Another tune that has been in the saxophonist’s locker for some time is “Fletcher’s Walk”, named after a thoroughfare in Birmingham that seems likely to fall victim to the developer’s wrecking ball at some time in the near future, Fletcher joking that his tribute might soon become a requiem. This was a more forceful piece, almost Colemanesque, featuring Brice’s elastic but propulsive bass and with Williams enjoying a series of colourful drum breaks.
“Her Grace” was Fletcher’s homage to the late Alice Coltrane, beginning with an atmospheric and emotive passage of unaccompanied saxophone, the reflective mood subsequently intensified by the addition of Brice’s sombre, almost funereal arco bass and Williams’ brushed cymbal shimmers. Still in pensive mood Fletcher entered into dialogue with Brice’s plucked bass as Williams offered drum commentary on the proceedings. In the closing stages the style shifted towards the kind of “spiritual jazz” purveyed by John and Alice Coltrane as Fletcher adopted a more declamatory tone on the sax.
The set concluded with “Perhaps Sing A Song”, the sly, quirky melody adding a subtle dash of humour to the proceedings. Brice’s earworm of a bass figure underpinned Fletcher’s solo, anchoring the piece as the saxophonist was given room to roam, his peregrinations superbly shadowed every step of the way by Williams.
This was an impressive performance by a very well balanced trio that augurs well for the year ahead and the upcoming ECHO performances. The album “Vuelta” is also well worth hearing and includes three further pieces not heard here, among them the abstract ballad “Home” a duet for saxophone and double bass. There’s also the the eight minute plus “In Memoriam” which features some of Fletcher’s most expansive playing plus a lengthy, but expertly constructed ,solo drum passage from Williams. The album closes with the three way discussion of “Savour”, garrulous at first but with a beautifully gentle coda.”
The album places a slightly greater emphasis on the writing but still retains an agreeable sense of looseness and spontaneity. It was recorded to high technical stanadards at the Fish Factory Studios in London by an engineering team including Benedic Lamdin and Alex Bonney.