Emma Johnson’s Gravy Boat, Kidderminster Jazz Club, The Corn Exchange Room, Kidderminster Town Hall, 02/12/2021.

Emma Johnson – tenor saxophone, Fergus Vickers – electric guitar, Richard Jones – piano,
Angus Milne – double bass, Steve Hanley – drums

Kidderminster Jazz Club’s final gig of 2021 was one that I had been looking forward to for some time.

In September I gave a very favourable review to “Worry Not”, Johnson’s début album with her intriguingly named quintet, Gravy Boat.  I was therefore particularly keen to see the music being played live and to meet up with Emma in the wake of our previous email correspondence.
Album review here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/emma-johnsons-gravy-boat-worry-not

Born into a music loving family in Accrington, Lancashire (also the hometown of Yes vocalist Jon Anderson)  Johnson is a saxophonist and composer who studied at Leeds College of Music, now renamed Leeds Conservatoire. She played clarinet in her school orchestra before switching to saxophone and moving on to Leeds.

The Gravy Boat band name is a self deprecating reference to Johnson’s Northern origins and the group’s début album was financed by a successful Kickstarter campaign, plus funding from her winning of the Peter Whittingham Jazz Award, given by the Help Musicians organisation.

The Kidderminster date was part of an ongoing tour in support of the album, financially supported by Arts Council England. The full album line up was in attendance and it was apparent from the outset that this was a well balanced, working band with a high level of musical rapport. The comparatively unusual front line of tenor sax, guitar and piano helps to Gravy Boat a very distinctive sound, with excellent support coming from the flexible and characterful rhythm section of Milne and Hanley.

Away from her main Gravy Boat project Johnson has collaborated with Manchester based vocalist Nishla Smith and also runs her own ‘horn section for hire’, which has resulted in work with a variety of rock, pop and jazz artists, among them Fold, Gregory Porter, Clare Teal, Olly Murs, Easy Life, Los Campesinos, Happy Daggers and Neon Dolls.

Johnson’s early influences included rock and pop artists and particularly singer-songwriters such as James Taylor, Joni Mitchell and Norah Jones. She cites Jones’ début album as a particular touchstone, as it also helped to spark her interest in jazz.

Given this formative background it’s easy to see why song structures inform Johnson’s writing, which is highly melodic, as do cinema scores and more obvious jazz influences, notably hard bop and particularly the music of bands deploying a tenor sax / guitar combination.

With regard to the album title Johnson admits to being a born worrier. The album tackles themes of stress and worry and the process of overcoming those things to find a sense of calm. It is a semi-conceptual affair charting the journey through the various stages of worry – “angst, acceptance, working through the issues and coming out the other end a changed and better human”. Johnson’s album notes thank the unnamed but “brilliant” women who have helped her through this process. Meanwhile the distinctive and beautiful artwork, by OR8DESIGN is a visual depiction of calm and serenity.

Many of the pieces were written just after Johnson left college, often originating as vocal melodies that she would sing into her phone and then develop at the piano. “I don’t write on the saxophone at all”, she has admitted.

Gigs at Kidderminster Jazz Club habitually feature artists who are personal favourites of promoter Annette Gregory, herself a highly accomplished jazz vocalist. Johnson was first recommended to Gregory by pianist / vocalist Wendy Kirkland, whose sextet played the inaugural Kidderminster Jazz Club event back in 2019. Following Kirkland’s recommendation Johnson played saxophone on one of Gregory’s gigs and the singer / promoter was so impressed that she was determined to invite Johnson to perform at KJC. The visit tied in neatly with the Gravy Boat tour schedule with the group due to play in nearby Birmingham the following evening.

Truth to tell the audience numbers were a little disappointing for the Kidderminster gig, particularly after recent large turn outs for vibraphonist Roger Beaujolais and pianist / vocalist Ian Shaw. There were of course several factors coming into play here, the close proximity of Christmas, Arctic weather conditions and, probably most crucial of all the emergence of he Omicron variant. Just when audiences were getting more confident and starting to come along to gigs in greater numbers we get struck with this!
Also, with due respect to Johnson, she’s not yet as well known as Beaujolais or Shaw and Gravy Boat’s music represented the most modern and contemporary music yet heard at KJC, a venue generally accustomed to more mainstream programming with an emphasis on the playing and singing of standards. That said Gravy Boat’s programme of adventurous but melodic contemporary jazz was very well received by those that were there and the playing of Johnson and her bandmates was excellent throughout, with Johnson presenting the performance with a characteristically Northern warmth and charm.

Over the course of the two sets Gravy Boat performed virtually all of the “Worry Not” album, albeit in a different sequence to the recording, plus a couple of earlier pieces that had previously been released as singles or EPs.

First to be played was album track “Vertical Plains”, an excellent representation of Johnson’s melodic but subtly complex writing. This was introduced by Jones at the piano, his rhythmic motif and Vickers’ subtle guitar chording providing the backdrop for Johnson’s fluent tenor sax soloing, these components augmented by Milne’s anchoring bass and Hanley’s neatly energetic drumming.  Vickers then took over on the guitar, his style understated but consistently inventive.

Hanley’s drums introduced the more angular “Fully Fledged”, another tune sourced from the album. Described by its composer as “angsty” the piece nevertheless exhibited a strong melodic aspect with a folk inspired theme complemented by vigorous jazz rhythms,  with Hanley a powerful and influential presence throughout. Johnson’s sax weaved its way in and out of the piece with the major solos coming from Jones at the piano and Vickers on guitar.

Following the angst a touch of serenity with the album track “Hold Me Tight”, an achingly beautiful and melodic ballad featuring the intertwining melody lines of sax, piano and guitar, with Vickers making subtle but effective use of his range of pedal generated effects. Bassist Milne was also a melodic presence, both with and without the bow, while Hanley wielded brushes to provide a gently shuffling, EST style groove.

Inspired by a mural in the Ancoats district of Manchester “Pelican” was the first piece not to have appeared on the album. Johnson compared herself and Vickers to the vivid colours of the bird’s feathers and Jones and the rhythm section to the thick black lines that make up its outline. Working in tandem Johnson and Vickers wove suitably colourful melodic patterns and textures, but the major features came from Milne on melodic double bass, Jones at the piano and Hanley with a neatly constructed drum feature.

Another non album track followed with “Things I Didn’t Know”, described by Johnson as “the slowest, saddest song we play”. Introduced by a dialogue between Vickers on guitar and Jones at the piano this was a piece that featured the pianist at his most lyrical and also demonstrated Johnson’s skills as a ballad player, her tone warm, tender and very affecting.

Albums typically begin with something rousing, a composition guaranteed to grab the listener’s attention. In live performances these pieces are often moved and are frequently deployed to end a set, or even an entire concert, on an energetic note. This was the case here as the first set concluded with album opener “Setting Sail”, a powerful piece featuring the leader’s hard edged, but always melodic, tenor, plus an expansive solo from Jones as the group temporarily went into piano trio mode, with Jones vigorously supported by Milne and the restlessly inventive and energetic Hanley.

The second set commenced with “Where Were You Hiding?”, the song that Gravy Boat recorded with guest vocalist Nishla Smith and which was issued as a single in June 2020. This was ushered in by an extended passage of unaccompanied tenor saxophone from the leader, and even without the lyrics was still a highly effective piece of music, with more orthodox jazz solos subsequently coming from Johnson and Vickers.

Returning to the album repertoire “Waterlogged” was a tune written in response to a house flood caused by a burst water pipe that occurred while Johnson was away from home collecting her Peter Whittingham Award! Introduced here by a dialogue between Johnson on tenor and Jones on piano the piece was a feature for the consistently impressive Angus Milne, whose melodic bass solo evolved into a musical discussion with his partner in rhythm, the similarly impressive Steve Hanley. There was a folkish quality about the main melodic theme, eventually delivered by Johnson’s sax. It’s easy to see why she admires her contemporaries Fergus McCreadie (piano) and her fellow Whittingham award winner Matt Carmichael (sax), as both incorporate folk inspired melodies into their music.
Agitated and wistful by turns “Waterlogged” incorporated further solos from Jones and Johnson, plus some impressive unison riffing from the band as a whole.

An early tune, “Candlewax”, saw the band briefly enter funk and fusion territory, an area that they’ve largely moved on from these days. Nevertheless this was still great fun with Milne laying down an infectious bass groove and Hanley a sturdy backbeat, the rhythm team helping to fuel the solos of Johnson and Vickers. This was Gravy Boat at their most earthy.

The title track from “Worry Not” was introduced by the duo of Johnson and Jones, the folkish melody taking a darker turn as the rest of the group entered the proceedings. Johnson probed gently, but searchingly on tenor before handing over to Vickers, who took flight on guitar, spiralling towards the stratosphere. Grounded once more the piece ended with the gentle timbres of unaccompanied piano. This was the sound of Johnson finally finding peace with herself.

The performance concluded with the final track on the album, “Sun Stones”, a piece that has also been issued as a single. This was introduced by a combination of guitar and bass, Milne striking up the groove against which the other instruments could play, with solos coming from Johnson on tenor, Jones at the piano and finally Hanley at the drums. The piece alternated bursts of energy with a yearning lyricism, with some of the riff based unison passages suggesting the influence of old school prog rock. It ended the performance on an uplifting and optimistic note.

Overall I was highly impressed by this performance from Gravy Boat. I’d been looking forward to it for a long time and in purely musical terms I wasn’t disappointed, it was just a shame that more people weren’t there to see it. Those who did attend were rewarded for their adventurousness and all seemed to enjoy it, giving the band a good reception. Johnson has been particularly keen to involve audiences on this current tour and she is a busy social media presence, positively encouraging band / audience interaction.

Reviewing the album I described the leader’s composing thus;

“Johnson’s writing is imaginative and multi-faceted, combining memorable themes with sophisticated rhythms and dynamics in a series of inventive compositions that embrace numerous twists and turns”. I still stand by that and would also cite her attention to detail as a further distinguishing quality.

As a composer she is well served by her excellent band, who all impressed individually as well as collectively. As is the nature of jazz I’m sure that they are all also involved in other projects, making them names to look out for in the future.

Johnson’s music is strongly influenced by the visual arts and her website and Facebook page includes a number of videos linked to individual tracks on the album. Check these out here;
https://www.johnsonmusic.co.uk/videos
https://www.facebook.com/emmajohnsonmusic

She has also conducted interviews with other musicians, notably saxophonist Alex Clarke and bassist Nicola Farnon as part of her ‘Gravy Boat Guests’ Facebook series.

The album itself is available via her Bandcamp page;
https://emmajohnsonsgravyboat.bandcamp.com/music

Johnson also has a particularly distinctive range of merchandise, which is available both from Bandcamp and on the tour. These include art prints from the album and single releases, and most unusual of all the Emma Johnson’s Gravy Boat gravy boat. My wife and I are now the proud possessors of one of these ceramic beauties, probably the most unusual piece of merch I have ever purchased at a gig!

The “Worry Not” tour continues with two further gigs as follows;

THU 9 DECEMBER
Peggy’s Skylight Jazz Club
Nottingham, UK

THU 16 DECEMBER
The Vortex Jazz Club
Dalston, London
 
Tickets here: www.johnsonmusic.co.uk/tourdates

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