Frank Harrison Trio, Cheltenham Jazz Club, The Studio, Everyman Theatre, Cheltenham, 14/04/2014.

Pianist Frank Harrison is probably best known to many listeners as Gilad Atzmon’s “musical right hand man”. He has been a member of Atzmon’s regular working band, the Orient House Ensemble, since its inception in the late 1990s, a key collaborator and,with Atzmon himself, the only constant member of the group following a series of changes in the bass and drum chairs.

Alongside his work with the remarkable Israeli born multi-instrumentalist Harrison has conducted a parallel career as the leader of his own piano trio. He is currently on tour in support of his third album release as a leader, the moon themed “Lunaris” recorded with bassist Dave Whitford and Italian born drummer Enzo Zirilli, the latter a sometime member of the Orient House Ensemble.

Harrison is a musician who likes to re-invent his trio on a regular basis. His début solo album, the immaculately recorded “First Light” (Basho Records, 2006) , featured the rhythm team of bassist Aidan O’Donnell and drummer Stephen Keogh and was one of the first albums I ever reviewed. Today it still remains something of a personal favourite.
For 2012’s “Sideways”, released on his own Linus imprint, Harrison retained the services of Keogh but introduced a new bass player in the shape of the Italian born, German based Davide Petrocca, the latter an exciting new discovery for UK jazz audiences. I had intended to see this line up perform at Cheltenham Jazz Club in February 2012 but was thwarted by the snowy conditions. Happily two years later on a gloriously bright and sunny spring day there were no such difficulties involved in catching up with the latest incarnation of Harrison’s trio. 

Cheltenham Jazz Club help to ensure a jazz presence in the town throughout the year and are an entirely separate entity from the renowned annual festival. The club hosts monthly events at either the Studio Theatre at the Everyman or at the nearby Victory Club, both institutions that have proved to be very welcome and accommodating. For details of future events (another piano trio led by Jonathan Gee will be visiting in May) please visit http://www.cheltenhamjazz.co.uk

I’ve been in the splendid main house at the Everyman Theatre many times for Jazz Festival events (it’s a shame that it’s no longer a festival venue) but tonight represented my first visit to the smaller Studio. This proved to be an intimate, if somewhat utilitarian, performance space with good acoustics and with a capacity of 80 proved to be ideal for the kind of small group jazz purveyed by Harrison and his trio. An attendance of just over seventy represented a virtual sell out and the crowd were attentive, receptive, knowledgeable and supportive making for an excellent atmosphere. Harrison played a somewhat dilapidated looking upright acoustic piano but it sounded good and blended well with the other instruments in what was overall an excellent sound balance. 

“Lunaris” presents the usual Harrison mix of original compositions plus innovative arrangements of pieces from the “standards” repertoire and beyond, for example tonight’s set revealed Harrison’s penchant for film music. Although half of the material on the new album is composed by Harrison tonight’s focus was on the adventurous interpretations of standards, many of them unrecorded by Harrison in the trio format. Some of these explorations were effectively deconstructions with tantalising snatches of the original melodies mutated into strange new shapes to create virtually new compositions - I certainly didn’t recognise everything straight away and had to seek a measure of clarification from Frank after the gig.

In Whitford and Zirilli Harrison had the ideal partners for these musical adventures, highly competent players with formidable technical abilities and the kind of enquiring minds that were right on Harrison’s wavelength. This was a highly interactive trio intent on having fun with their chosen material and tackling their subject matter with the kind of skill and daring that is the prerogative of musicians who “know that they are good”. 

The evening commenced with a couple of tunes from the new “Lunaris” album beginning with Harrison’s “Sunrise (Port Meadow)”, the composer soon lost in reverie as he built upon his own gorgeous melody with an expansive solo that revealed a distinct Keith Jarrett influence. Zirilli’s role here was that of colourist with his cymbal work particularly atmospheric and well judged. The supremely versatile Whitford delivered the first of several excellent bass solos. Something of an unsung hero he’s a musician I’ve seen a lot of lately in a variety of contexts ranging from singer Christine Tobin’s intimate trio to saxophonist Stan Sulzmann’s large ensemble the Neon Orchestra. Also a great organiser Whitford is UK jazz’s Mr. Dependable and his playing never fails to impress.

Also from the album Jerome Kern’s “I’m Old Fashioned” was the first of the many voyages of discovery based around a jazz standard. Introduced by Zirilli at the drums the piece embraced contemporary grooves plus complex harmonic and rhythmic ideas with Harrison’s flowing solo consistently full of invention. In Whitford Harrison had a bassist who could cope with everything the pianist could throw at him and still impress with his own contribution. The piece concluded with a thrilling series of exchanges between Harrison and Zirilli, some of them positively fiery as the Italian swapped brushes for sticks.

Harrison dipped into the “Sideways” repertoire for the original “Song For Roo”, a joyous dedication to his wife that began in semi ballad fashion but soon gathered momentum to express something far more celebratory with Harrison and Whitford making strong solo statements along the way.

By Harrison’s own admission his tunes are more commonly sombre or even “miserable” in terms of emotional content. To illustrate his precept the trio performed the supremely atmospheric “Io”, sourced from the new album. A solo introduction of almost funereal solo piano was later enhanced by deeply resonant bass and eerie cymbal scrapes with Zirilli subsequently playing much of the tune with his bare hands. Despite Harrison’s self deprecating introduction the piece possessed a chilly beauty that the audience clearly found highly moving and ironically this “dirge” was accorded one of the best audience receptions of the night. It was apparent throughout the evening that although the audience weren’t applauding every solo this was because they were fully immersed in the music as opposed to lacking in appreciation. The overall vibe was warm and appreciative.

The trio returned to the standards repertoire for an extraordinary version of “Autumn Leaves”, a piece that Harrison first tackled on the “Sideways” album. The level of group interaction here was little short of phenomenal with Harrison’s sparkling solo leading the way, the pianist again lost in reverie as he pushed and stretched the boundaries of the song with the support of his similarly adventurous colleagues. In addition to his skills as a colourist Zirilli can also play with power and precision as he demonstrated on the closing drum solo, arms and legs flailing in a manner that reminded me of a comment made by Dave Stewart, former keyboards man with Hatfield and The North about the band’s drummer, the late, great Pip Pyle - ” playing like an octopus on amphetamines!”

An hour long, value for money, first half closed with a similarly radical makeover of Fats Waller’s “Jitterbug Waltz”, which began conventionally enough before branching out with Harrison’s scintillating, free flowing solo above Zirilli’s bustling, increasingly assertive drum grooves, Whitford’s powerfully plucked bass solo and finally a series of volcanic drum breaks. This high energy finale sent the crowd into the interval in good humour and half time CD sales were gratifyingly brisk.

Harrison’s love of film music manifested itself at the beginning of the second set with the trio’s interpretation of the “Love Theme From Spartacus” (from “First Light”), the air of fragile romance characterised by Harrison’s spacious solo piano introduction and the gently sympathetic support afforded by double bass and brushed drums.

From “Lunaris” the Harrison original “Ascent”, based around an escalating piano motif ,introduced an E.S.T. like feel with its contemporary sounding grooves and discursive piano soloing with Whitford and Zirilli building up an impressive head of steam behind the relentlessly inventive Harrison.

The standard ” I Should Care” opened with a passage of lyrical solo piano as Whitford and Zirilli paused to take on water following their exertions on the previous number. By the trio’s standards this was delivered in relatively conventional fashion with solos coming from Harrison and Whitford.

David Raskin’s “My Love And I”, the love theme from the film “Apache”, opens the new album and represents yet another Harrison excursion into the world of cinema. Introduced her by a piano / bass duet the air of lush romanticism was continued by the subsequent solos from Harrison and Whitford. However Zirilli’s delicate and neatly detailed brush work was spoiled when a small cymbal tottered from his kit and fell upon the floor, the resultant crash breaking the mood and drawing a word of apology from the errant drummer plus a rueful look at the offending floor-bound object. Harrison just about kept himself together and managed to stop himself laughing, taking the incident in his stride and making a joke of it. The Cheltenham audience was also suitably forgiving of Zirilli’s impromptu “Keith Moon moment”.

The bebop standard “If I Were A Bell” followed, suddenly feeling enormously appropriate as Harrison wove the “Pompey Chimes” into the fabric of the tune in a high energy workout characterised by Harrison’s feverish soling and a closing drum feature in which Zirilli was invited to make as much noise as he liked . Shades of that hyperactive, psychedelic octopus again.

“Tea For Two” - dubbed “Three For Two” by Harrison in the light of his CD offer - was rendered as a ballad, an inventive re-imagination of the tune introduced by a passage of solo piano with Harrison later supported by a rich bass undertow and the swish of delicately brushed drums. Whitford’s bass solo was outstandingly melodic, one of his best of the night.

An energetic reading of the bop standard “Doxy” closed an excellent evening of music making with features for all three members of the group. There was to be no encore as the band had to dash back to London. Zirilli’s punishing schedule would see him almost immediately boarding a plane to Italy
for a series of other engagements.

However nobody could complain of being short changed following two hour long sets of fiercely imaginative and interactive music making from a very well matched trio. As I’ve observed in previous articles Harrison’s radical and inventive approach to standards rivals that of Brad Mehldau, with an obvious love of the source material tempered by an equally obvious desire to subvert it, do something different with it and stamp his own authority on it - and Harrison does it all with a smile on his face. His free flowing invention may recall Mehldau and Jarrett but Harrison is very much his own man. And he’s clearly relishing this opportunity to do his own thing away from the giant shadow of Atzmon. He may not have Atzmon’s charisma as a “front man” but his slightly nervous, very British announcing style contained several flashes of genuine humour, something which often carried on into the music with fleeting pianistic quotes and allusions peppering the playing. But tonight was also a great team effort with Whitford and Zirilli deserving enormous credit for their individual and collective contributions.

Meanwhile the “Lunaris” album, released again on Harrison’s own Linus label and featuring the distinctive artwork of Andrew Walton is well worthy of investigation and is highly recommended. With a greater reliance on original material it’s rather different to tonight’s show but Harrison is also a talented writer and his own compositions deserve to be heard. His recorded output plus live performances such as this evening’s demand that he be considered among the top flight of British jazz pianists. 

The Lunaris tour resumes in May 2014 with dates as follows;

May 2014

02
Frank Harrison Trio
Wakefield Jazz Club
Wakefield

09
Frank Harrison Trio
Fleece Jazz
Leavenheath, Colchester

10
Frank Harrison Trio
St Michael at the North Gate
Oxford

11
Frank Harrison Trio
Hen & Chicken
Bristol

http://www.frankharrison.net

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