Dog Soup

“Fragments”

(Loop Records LOOP1007)

This is another album that’s been sitting in the “to do” pile for months. It was given to me by pianist John Turville around the time I reviewed his excellent trio album “Midas” (see elsewhere on this site).

Dog Soup is the name of the band led by young trumpeter Robbie Robson and the group also features Turville, this time playing exclusively Fender Rhodes, plus bassist Johnny Brierley and versatile drummer Tim Giles. The project falls under the umbrella of the increasingly influential North London based Loop Collective, an aggregation of adventurous young musicians who are currently building up an impressive catalogue of recordings on their own record label. Many of these have been reviewed on this site and the standard is consistently and impressively high.

Dog Soup began as a project by Robson in which he transcribed the music of Miles Davis’ “lost quintet” of 1969 featuring Wayne Shorter (reeds), Chick Corea (keyboards), Dave Holland (bass) and Jack DeJohnette (drums). This particular line up never recorded officially but various bootleg live recordings and DVDs exist and it was these that formed the inspiration for Dog Soup as Robson began to study the music of the so called “lost quintet”.

Initially it was intended that Robson’s group featuring himself, Turville, Brierley and drummer Dave Smith (later replaced by Giles) would just play the music of the “lost” Davis band but the project soon took on a life of it’s own ( as is always the best way) with Robson writing original material for his group to play in the “lost quintet” style. The band name, Dog Soup is a knowing nod to the seminal Davis album “Bitches Brew” , also recorded in 1969 using an extended line up featuring all the members of the “lost quintet” plus other luminaries such as guitarist John McLaughlin and bass clarinet specialist Bennie Maupin.

However the “lost quintet” didn’t just play the “Bitches Brew” material. While some of the tunes were included in sets of the time Davis was simultaneously looking forward but also acknowledging his past as the quintet mixed standards, free bop and a new kind of funk inspired by Sly And The Family Stone. Similarly Robson’s group only uses “Bitches Brew” as a reference point as they improvise around Robson’s modal frameworks. Modern electronics, unavailable to Davis, feature too with both Robson and Giles manipulating the group sound by means of loops, samples,delays and echo. The result is music that is clearly inspired by Davis but which possesses enough character of its own to make it interesting. Dog Soup are far more than just a Davis tribute band and their ranks include some of the most creative young players in the country, musicians who have made quite a stir with some of their other projects notably Turville with his trio and Giles with Fraud, Leverton Fox and The Golden Age Of Steam. They clearly enjoy improvising in the Davis style but have plenty of ideas of their own to bring to the party. “We’re not trying to re-capture the physical notes, we want the attitude” says Robson and by and large this approach works admirably. 

The programme of six Robson originals commences with the suitably forceful “Push”, ushered in by Giles’ drum roll and featuring Robson’s long trumpet melody lines above busy, polyrhythmic drumming and earthy Fender Rhodes. It’s subtly funky and offers plenty of scope for improvisation, particularly by the leader as the group venture “out” and subsequently back in” again.

The sprawling twenty minute title track extends this process as themes drift in and out of focus, dynamics shift subtly and moods and nuances mutate constantly. It’s based on the Davis method of using fragments of melody as jumping off points for improvisation, little signposts that prevent the players from becoming totally lost. This balance between structure and freedom is at the heart of Davis’s music, he was constantly pushing at the boundaries between these seemingly disparate concepts and coming up with something innovative and uniquely personal in the process. Dog Soup incorporate plenty of group improvisation into “Fragments” the track, with Giles’ brilliantly fluid and colourful drumming at it’s core, derived from the style of Jack DeJohnette but anything but a slavish copy. Although still young Giles has been active on the UK scene for long enough to have developed a strong identity of his own. Dog Soup don’t do jazz solos in the conventional sense and the spirit of group interaction is correspondingly high. “Fragments” also features passages of electronically enhanced playing but the group integrate them in a way that sounds perfectly natural and organic. The piece is like a living, breathing entity that continues to absorb as it unfolds, seemingly propelled by an intangible inner logic. Spacey, almost ambient passages alternate with more groove orientated sections. Robson says that when the group tackle the piece live it sounds different every time and that if the band hits the right vibe the tune can expand to fill a single set.

“Shimmer” further extends the band’s electronic experiments in a wonderful blend of atmospherics that seem to embody the title. Robson’s wispy trumpet floats on the horizon underpinned by Giles’ brilliantly detailed percussion, Brierley’s Charlie Haden like bass lines and Turville’s gently trilling Fender Rhodes. Daniel Spicer of Jazzwise described the piece as a “free form tone poem” which encapsulates it almost perfectly. 

By contrast the following “Tricksy” is much more full on and incorporates an extended drum feature for the excellent Giles. Turville also features strongly with a nimble solo at the Rhodes.

“Black Mackerel” flirts with balladry before adopting a hip hop groove that brings Dog Soup right up to date. This acts as the framework for another lengthy solo from the talented Turville as Robson continues to cede more space to his colleagues.

The closing “Settle” opens with Brierley’s solo bass, subsequently joined by Giles’ colourful drumming. Robson’s long, mournful trumpet lines then take centre stage as the piece slowly and atmospherically unfolds through a series of free form, electronically enhanced ensemble passages with the emphasis very much on ambience.

Dog Soup’s take on electric era Miles is an effective updating of the great man’s sound. Although rooted in a previous era the music still has a strong contemporary resonance and the album is a worthy addition to the rapidly expanding Loop catalogue. “Fragments” stands as a wholly convincing piece of work in its own right.

blog comments powered by Disqus