Chris Garrick

“Flight Mode” 

(Flying Blue Whale Records FLY07)

Versatile violinist Christian Garrick’s latest solo album appears on his own Flying Blue Whale label. It’s the latest instalment from Garrick’s prog/jazz quartet and follows in the footsteps of recordings such as “Marzipan” (2003) and the sprawling double set “Firewire” (2005).

Garrick appears a lot on these pages, mainly because he’s fantastically busy and also because he isn’t afraid to venture out into the provinces. I’ve seen Garrick playing live many times mostly with his own group or with Django Reinhardt influenced guitarists such as John Etheridge or Angelo De Barre. The context may vary but the presence of Christian Garrick on a stage is usually a guarantee of quality entertainment delivered with a sense of humour and a high degree of musical skill.

Garrick’s versatility is legendary, he plays all the jazz violin styles from Stuff Smith via Stephane Grappelli to Jean Luc Ponty and convinces in all of them before adding in elements of rock, folk and classical for good measure. His own groups, such as this one, allow him to indulge himself and throw all his influences into a single pot, the results are sometimes uneven but never less than interesting and entertaining.

“Flight Mode” is typically wide ranging and ambitious, centred around a five part suite written by Garrick himself. This forms the second half of the album, the first being comprised of imaginative interpretations of tunes by Gershwin and Jobim, contributions from close musical associates Pete James and David Gordon plus the marvellously titled “Nooks & Cranberries” from Garrick himself.

The personnel this time round features long term Garrick associates David Gordon (piano & keyboards), Ole Rasmussen (double bass) and Tom Hooper (drums). I’ve seen all three performing with Garrick at shows in Leominster and Abergavenny and can attest first hand as to their abilities.
These gentlemen are fine musicians, characterful and resourceful soloists and flexible, intelligent accompanists.

“Flight Mode” commences with Garrick’s robust and highly contemporary updating of Gershwin’s “It Ain’t Necessarily So” , the leader’s violin soaring horn like over the chunky, complex rhythms laid down by his colleagues.

Jobim’s “How Insensitive” receives a similarly radical makeover with eerie violin floating hauntingly above Rasmussen’s insistent bass pulse. Gordon’s piano provides elegant lyricism before Garrick takes over again, stretching the parameters of the tune on his seven string Jordan violin. This is an arrangement that’s been in the quartet’s live sets for a number of years and it’s good to see it finally make it on to album.

Both of Garrick’s quirkily radical interpretations of highly familiar material have to be heard to be believed. From here on in it’s original material all the way but the quartet apply same maverick spirit to their own material.

The event packed “June” was written by pianist Pete James, Gordon’s predecessor in Garrick’s groups. There’s some seriously virtuoso musicianship on this fast moving, technically demanding piece. Garrick’s playing is dazzling and in the helter-skelter closing exchanges the rest of the quartet are pretty amazing too. There’s the sense of a band playing challenging material and relishing it, the sound of a group having “serious fun”.

Gordon’s “April Fool” is more consciously playful and whimsical as befits its title. It was originally written for Gordon’s jazz and early music combo Respectable Groove but has been substantially tweaked for the quartet with the dialogue between Garrick and Danish bassist Rasmussen a notable feature.

Garrick’s “Nooks And Cranberries” has a gorgeous melody and something of the English whimsy suggested by the title. The piece includes delightful features for Rasmussen and Gordon with both player at their most lyrical.

Garrick’s liner notes reveal little about the “5-Way Suite” that form the second half of the album. “a shiny new suite” is how he describes it but there’s nothing about its genesis or inspiration and the titles of the individual movements appear to be unrelated.

The suite begins with the lively “Pigeon Among The Cats” with Garrick’s violin setting a surging pace, driven on by Hooper’s urgent drumming. Gordon’s solo sparkles and dazzles and there’s something of a feature for Hooper in the climactic closing stages.

“Chaos In Paradise” maintains the energy levels combining soaring melodies with rock rhythms as Gordon moves between acoustic and electric keyboards.

“Nobody Move” opens with Rasmussen’s resonant solo bass before Garrick comes in on “wah-wah” violin to give the piece an unusual blues flavour. The rhythms remain rock orientated and at times Garrick almost sounds like a guitarist. There’s a further feature for the consistently excellent Rasmussen on this slow burner of a tune.

“Black Is The New Night” is another mainly high energy affair with Garrick’s folkish fiddle melodies taking flight in an arrangement paced by Gordon’s piano. With Hooper’s colourful drumming adding greatly to the mix this is a strong group performance all round, one of many throughout the album.

The closing movement “When We Wake Up We’ll Be Somewhere Else” ends the suite and the album on an elegiac note, its quiet beauty very much the calm after the storm.

“Flight Mode” is yet another impressive piece of work from Garrick. His writing is typically colourful and inventive and the playing from all four members of the group exemplary. Gordon and Pete James also contribute strong compositions and Garrick’s arrangements of the two standard pieces are colourful and imaginative.

There may be purists who dismiss Garrick’s prog rock trappings-the suites, the rock rhythms, the seven string violin-and so on, but to me they’re missing the point. There’s nothing pretentious about Garrick’s music, he’s a comparatively young guy and it’s only natural that he should have absorbed many influences, rock amongst them. Garrick delivers complex and inventive music but does so with a smile on his face and an obvious love of what he’s doing. He’s an amiable down to earth guy who likes a pint and his good natured blend of jazz and other musics reflects this. Besides Garrick is legendarily versatile and his work with a number of Django Reinhardt inspired groups should help to keep the more “conventional”  jazz fans happy.

“Flight Mode” is exciting and inventive and is delivered with a refreshing joie de vivre. It’s a more than worthy addition to the impressive Garrick catalogue. 

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