Winner of the Parliamentary Jazz Award for Best Media, 2019

by Ian Mann

August 24, 2015

/ ALBUM

An exceptionally fine recording that represents a fitting epitaph to the great John Taylor.

Richard Fairhurst & John Taylor

“Duets”

(Basho Records SRCD 49-2)

This splendid album of piano duets was released on August 7th 2015, just three weeks after the sudden and tragic death of John Taylor by heart attack when performing at the Saveurs Jazz Festival in Segres, France. Aged just seventy two, still comparatively young by modern day standards, Taylor was a musician who was still very much in his creative prime with a busy performance and recording schedule and his death represents an incalculable loss to British jazz.

It is inevitable that “Duets” will now come to be seen as a memorial to Taylor, a swansong if you will, but it’s a fine piece of work in its own right with some superb playing from both Taylor and Fairhurst. The partnership between Taylor and the younger Fairhurst (born 1975) began in 2010 when Fairhurst was approached to play at the 2010 Steinway Two Pianos Festival in London and was asked which pianist he would like to collaborate with. Fairhurst turned to Taylor, a man who had been a huge influence on him as both a pianist and composer with Fairhurst describing Taylor as a musician with “a touch and sound that really spoke to me”.

The successful collaboration in 2010 led to two further duo performances at the Steinway Festival and the pair also performed together at a special concert celebrating Taylor’s 70th birthday in 2012. The duo felt that by this stage they were ready to record and the material on “Duets” was documented in late 2013 on two Steinway Model ‘D’ pianos at the studio of engineer Curtis Schwartz. It was the first time that Taylor had recorded in the two piano format and the album is notable for how uncluttered it feels, both musicians clearly have the utmost respect for each other’s playing and the music never feels crowded or claustrophobic. Part of the credit for this should be given to Schwartz whose pristine mix offers the kind of spaciousness and clarity that one associates with productions on the ECM record label.

In his liner notes Fairhurst speaks of rehearsing at Steinway Hall prior to the recording and of “working on the many possibilities that exist within the piano duet setting, experimenting with sounds, textures, space, rhythmic ideas and ways of connecting with each other intuitively. Sometimes we play together and sometimes we play solo within any given arrangement. I think the main aim was for us to achieve a blend within the overall sound of the music that had the unity of one instrument being heard -two pianos as one”. On hearing “Duets” the listener is left in no doubt that Fairhurst and Taylor achieved their aims totally and admirably.

One of the seeds for this project was the shared love the two pianists felt for the music of the great American pianist and composer Bill Evans (1929-80) and the album includes a suite of Evans inspired material, three compositions by Evans himself plus the Taylor composed tribute “Evans Above”. Fairhurst has spoken of the duo approaching the Evans pieces from a contemporary angle and using their mutual connection to them as a springboard for exploring their own individual approaches and perspectives and developing their own original performances.

It’s ironic given the circumstances surrounding the album’s release that the recording also features tributes to two other musicians who were both friends to, and influences on, Taylor and Fairhurst. The late pianist, composer and educator Pete Saberton is honoured both by the jointly composed/improvised “Epitaph to Sabbo” and by the performance of his two part “3 P’s Piece”. Similarly trumpeter and composer Kenny Wheeler, who died at around the same time as this album was being recorded, is honoured by a performance of his piece “Sly Eyes” and by the Fairhurst/Taylor credited “Epitaph To Kenny”.

The album commences with “Epitaph to Sabbo” which immediately epitomises the duo’s approach.  It’s a beautiful tribute that steadfastly avoids the potential pitfalls of the two piano format. There is no overcrowding and the music has a sense of space, stillness and reflection that is entirely appropriate to the circumstances of its composition. Together the two musicians achieve a quality that Fairhurst has described as “a considered elegance”.

Saberton’s own “3 P’s Piece-Part 1” is busier and more rhythmic, qualities consistent with his often tricky and unpredictable writing style. The duo tackle it with a joyous relish, if the opening “Epitaph” was a lament then this second item is a vigorous celebration of Saberton’s life and music.

“3 P’s Piece-Part II” then essays something of the reflective qualities of “Epitaph” in its opening passages before being followed by another bout of rumbustious rhythm.

Fairhurst’s “Open Book” marks a return to a more lyrical approach and exhibits a strong classical influence but there’s a jazz rigour about the improvising and the way in which the duo gently prod and probe around Fairhurst’s melody.

The jointly composed “Epitaph To Kenny” is less obviously a lament than the duo’s homage to Saberton. It begins with some rhythmic work under the lid and is perhaps a piece designed to illustrate Wheeler’s quirky, idiosyncratic personality.
Wheeler’s tango “Sly Eyes” has become something of a favourite with British jazz musicians in recent years and Fairhurst and Taylor explore its many rhythmic and melodic possibilities with great élan, whilst still all the while holding true to Fairhurst’s credo of “considered elegance”. Like all the pieces on this album it’s a delightful performance.

The sequence of four Bill Evans themed pieces begins with Taylor’s “Evans Above” a seven and a half minute distillation of the spirit of Evans captured in an ever evolving composition that combines the romance of folk and classically inspired melodies with the searching qualities of the best jazz. Evans was an enormously influential figure, not just for pianists but for jazz musicians generally. His music still sounds remarkably contemporary and today’s jazz musicians continue to owe him a huge debt of gratitude. 

Evans usually recorded in the classic piano / bass / drums format and revisited his own compositions many times with a variety of line ups in this configuration. It’s therefore interesting to hear three of his best known pieces, “Very Early”, “Turn Out The Stars” and “Re;Person I Knew”  interpreted in the two piano format. The sparkling performances by Fairhurst and Taylor shed new light on, and breathe fresh life into, these much loved pieces. “Very Early” is lively, rhythmic and vivacious, “Turn Out The Stars” spacious and unashamedly romantic but leavened with a joyous rigorousness in its improvised mid tune exchanges. “Re; Person I Knew” is one of Evans’ most memorable and enduring compositions and this version by Fairhurst and Taylor is just perfect, superficially lovely but full of the kind of musical fine detail that repays repeated listening.

The album closes with the yearning, aching lyricism of Fairhurst’s “Growth In An Old Garden”, a tune that he originally recorded in a very different guise in 1998 with his band of the time The Hungry Ants. This delightful 2015 interpretation is a testament to the quality of this piece, written by a then very young composer. 

It is inevitable that for many listeners hearing “Duets” for the first time will represent a very poignant experience. But perhaps it’s best to enjoy the album on its own merits, it’s an exceptionally fine recording and represents a fitting epitaph to the great John Taylor. His legacy will live on both through his recordings and through the work of the many pianists and other musicians he inspired including Richard Fairhurst.

Indeed “Duets” will not be the last record of new music from John Taylor to be released as there were already two other albums already in the pipeline prior to his death. 
The first is due on Cam Jazz in September and features Taylor’s music for a suite inspired by Kurt Vonnegut’s short story “Harrison Bergeron”. The work was commissioned by BBC Radio 3 to celebrate Taylor’s 70th birthday and was premi?red at the 2012 Cheltenham Jazz Festival by a hand picked octet that featured Julian Arguelles on saxophone and Taylor’s two sons, Leo (drums) and Alex (guitar, vocals). Vonnegut’s writing had also provided the inspiration for the earlier album “Requiem For A Dreamer”.
In October Cam Jazz will also release “On The Way To Two”, a previously unreleased duo session from 2005 that Taylor recorded at the famous Bauer Studios in Ludwigsburg, Germany with his old friend Kenny Wheeler.

Fairhurst and Taylor were due to launch “Duets” at the Jazz Piano Summit at the Purcell Room in London on September 9th 2015. The event will now effectively become a tribute to Taylor with a congregation of superb pianists, many of them one time students of Taylor, gathering to pay homage. The line up will include Fairhurst, Gwilym Simcock, Michael Wollny, Liam Noble, Tom Cawley, Kit Downes, John Turville and Tom Hewson plus guest saxophonist Trish Clowes. For ticket details please visit the Southbank Centre website http://www.southbankcentre.co.uk 
 

COMMENTS;

From Richard Fairhurst via Facebook;

Thanks for the lovely review of our ‘Duets’ recording Ian… Beautifully written! Cheers. All the best! Richard

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