REVIEWS OF ROMANCE AMONG THE FISHES
If a song title doesn't make much sense
to you, almost any means of passing the time is likely to
be more productive than stopping to ask a jazz musician
what it means. The gifted and undemonstratively wayward
British pianist Liam Noble doesn't explain this one, but
a private, absorbing exercise in contemporary jazz pattern-juggling
builds up quite enough meaning in its own way without stumbling
over the clutter of literal translation.
Noble likes a mixture of staccato, drily witty themes that
suggest a collision of Steve Coleman and Django Bates with
Wayne Shorter - and with Canadian piano guru Paul Bley in
the quieter episodes. This music stems from a set-up organised
by the Cheltenham international jazz festival in 2004, when
Noble and his regular freebop guitar partner Phil Robson
were paired with the innovative American bass- and-drums
team of Drew Gress and Tom Rainey.
The set opens with the fast, clattery,
up-and-down unison melody of Jitters, which Gress and Rainey
join with effortlessly creative aplomb after Noble and Robson's
theme statement. The mood shifts for the freely evolving,
softly-rippling Therapy; Bunker examines the melodic implications
of instruments passing in and out of phase with each other;
and Bluebear is an enigmatic guitar/piano theme set up by
Rainey's many-layered drumming, which turns into a boppish
flyer for the agile Robson.
The title track is a dreamy ebb- and-flow
of melodic fragments that keep suggesting new mutations,
a common enthusiasm for both the British pair and their
American guests. This might sound something of a scholarly,
theoretical exercise, but it has an inner energy and quiet
vigour that grows on you.
4 stars (Basho) John
Fordham, Guardian Friday October 14, 2005
If some of the commentary in the jazz
press is to be believed, it can only be a matter of time
before European jazz musicians sail up the Potomac to burn
Washington again. Jazz in America, so the thesis goes, is
dead. The baton has been passed to Europe.
Such ideas would presumably be quite puzzling
to the musicians on Romance Among the Fishes. This group,
under the leadership of British pianist Liam Noble, was
put together for a performance at the 2004 Cheltenham Jazz
Festival (typical of the visionary programming of director
Tony Dudley Evans). Phil Robson, a leading UK guitarist
in his own bands, Partisans, and with Christine Tobin, is
Noble’s front-line partner. The US contingent is provided
by the crack rhythm team of Tom Rainey and Drew Gress.
Liam Noble has been a regular feature
of many of the bands touring Britain since the early 1990s.
His excellent 2003 recording In the Meantime, with such
luminaries as Stan Sulzmann and Chris Biscoe, served notice
of a distinctive compositional talent. Romance Among The
Fishes should bring his music to a much wider audience.
The cover pictures an aquarium of illuminated
fishes, an image that fits perfectly with some of the slower
pieces. Most of the material has been composed by Noble,
generally quite terse themes that provide knotty jump-off
points for the improvisations. Just as in a fish tank a
variety of fishes can be seen moving in contrary directions,
yet give a sense of common movement, so all four musicians
follow highly independent paths, whilst obeying the general
direction of the composed music. The opening “Jitters”
is built around a pentatonic theme, reminiscent of Debussy
in his more Eastern-influenced piano music, though at a
cracking pace. “Therapy” is more dreamy, with
a beautifully melodic bass solo from Gress and striking
solos from Robson and Noble. Three tracks appear to be virtually
free improvisations, setting up short duets.
Though in constant flux, this is far from
a wild recording, having more in common with the music of
Jimmy Giuffre or Lee Konitz. The musicians are not afraid
to leave space between the notes, helping to establish a
watery, floating feel. Especially impressive in this respect
is the concluding title track, where Robson’s guitar
is rich in reverb, sounding almost Cuban in texture. The
faintly out-of-synch wooziness of the track sums up Noble's
musical approach, avoiding clear-cut, finished phrases.
The artificial divisions set up between
“European” and “American” jazz are
blown apart by carefully crafted collaborations like Romance
Among The Fishes. Where the fusion of Ken Vandermark with
Norway’s Atomic explores the fiery side of jazz, this
four-way collaboration investigates a cooler but no less
fascinating aspect.
All praise too to Basho Music, rapidly
emerging as one of the UK's most dynamic organisations in
promoting and recording contemporary jazz.
By Bev Stapleton AllAboutJazz
http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=19386
In his informative album notes to this
invigorating recording, British pianist Liam Noble writes
that he wanted to create a music in which he and his collaborator,
guitarist Phil Robson, interacted as two equal voices rather
than as soloist and accompanist. He wanted flexible, organic,
mutating rhythmic ideas to underlie the lead players, which
is precisely what bassist Drew Gress and drummer Tom Rainey
provide. Romance Among The Fishes is the very rewarding
result.
This music produces constant interplay,
sometimes through contrapuntal improvising by Noble and
Robson, as on “The Butterflies.” This is a short
piece, barely over a minute, but it is nearly perfect, with
the improvised lines entwining seamlessly, almost like musical
ivy. Of course there are solos, and the accompaniment often
takes the form of commentary, an answering musical phrase,
perhaps, rather than traditional chordal comping. Some of
the best improvising occurs on “Enchante,” with
bracing single note lines by Noble and a driving guitar
solo, also favoring a single note approach, by Robson. Throughout,
the leader plays bracing, spirited piano and Robson either
shadows him like a hawk or adds his own clean, crisp guitar
voice.
Romance Among The Fishes swings, albeit
not in the traditional sense. The rhythms played by Gress
and Rainey aren't the rubato swirls or high velocity thumps
associated with free music. These performances are certainly
not free music. They surge forward with sprightly momentum,
ebbing and flowing, but pushed from behind and, yes, swinging.
“Enchante” and “Bluebear” are the
most aggressive tunes, the former spurred by Gress' walking.
On every tune, creativity abounds, echoing with wit and
fresh thinking. Liam Noble and Phil Robson are two more
distinctive voices in the ever-fascinating and rewarding
realm of British jazz.
By Marc Meyers
