Musicians: Elton Dean (saxes), Jim Dvorak (trumpet), Tim Crowther (guitar/guitar synth), John Edwards (bass), Jim Lebaigue (drums)
Review: On paper, this quintet would most assuredly signify those who are among the crème de la crème of Britain’s jazz and/or jazz-rock movements. With this release, the artists’ do not disappoint or perform below expectations. Listen to electric guitarist Tim Crowther’s spacey and somewhat ominous chord voicings on Rekelecterak, where Elton Dean’s alto sax work rides atop a burgeoning mid-tempo swing vamp. Highlights are plentiful here and the band’s decision to work through lengthy pieces stacks up rather well. They afford themselves time to develop mini-themes amid sequences of budding, improvisational episodes and a few burning meltdowns.
Dean and trumpeter Jim Dvorak often engage in free-form opuses while also trading vapid fours. Essentially, the band stirs the pot pretty hard. On “Arpaloogy,” Crowther institutes a decisive edge via his phased, chop chords atop the driving rhythms, as Dean and Dvorak shoot for the stars. On that note, the musicians’ generally get to the point in rather expeditious fashion, while conveying an uncanny ability to sound unhurried yet undeniably deterministic. The music presented here crosses a few genres, spanning free improv, jazz-rock and hard swinging, avant-bop. But it’s the artists’ distinctive styles and breath of execution that provides a rather chic methodology that gains steam on repeated spins. (Recommended listening…)
JazzReview.com
