The album “Present Continuous” by the Chris Hodgkins Trio was one of 2005’s most pleasant surprises.

Chris Hodgkins is probably best known in the jazz community for his work as an administrator. In the late 70’s he co-founded the Welsh Jazz Society and following a move to London became head of Jazz Services. With funding from the Arts Council this organisation serves jazz nationally by promoting and organising tours by professional musicians and by generally raising the profile of jazz through education, information and communication. Hodgkins has won numerous awards for his work in this post and indeed continues in this role to this day.

However he is also a very talented musician in his own right and “Present Continuous” was his long overdue debut as a leader. A finely crafted set of musical miniatures the record was a great critical success.

Pleasingly it would also seem that the album was also a commercial success and so it was that Hodgkins found himself back in the studio in 2006 to record a follow up.

“Future Continuous” sees Hodgkins continuing where he left off. Wisely he has chosen not to tamper with a winning formula. Once again Hodgkins’ trumpet is teamed with Alison Rayner’s double bass and Max Brittain’s guitar. Malcolm Creese and Bob Whitney continue to be responsible for the recorded sound and fellow trumpeter Digby Fairweather contributes another set of perspicacious liner notes. However borrowing the artwork from the previous release may be taking a good thing a little too far!

Hodgkins employs the same working methods as on the previous record. Once again he takes his inspiration from the great US cornet player Ruby Braff and keeps everything brief and pithy whilst honouring Braff’s dictum that improvisation is the “adoration of the melody”.

This time there are twenty tunes on the album none of which clock in at more than four and a half minutes. It is an approach that recalls the old days of 78’s. Once more there is an imaginative mixture of jazz styles and eras but Hodgkins also broadens his palette to take in pop compositions and even a little classical excursion with the overture from Telemann’s “Water Music” in an arrangement by Henry Lowther.

Lowther, himself a trumpeter, also contributes as a composer with the piece “No Silence In The Lamb” featuring Hodgkins deploying the harmon mute.

The album features other tunes by trumpeters. Conte Candoli’s “Full Count” is swinging and invigorating. Humphrey Lyttleton’s Mezzrow/Mezz’s Tune” features Hodgkins making use of the cup mute, nimbly supported by Brittain and Rayner. “If We Never Meet Again” finds Hodgkins paying homage to Louis Armstrong. Dizzy Gillespie’s “Birks Works” features an outstanding solo by Rayner.

British composer Eddie Harvey contributes two pieces. “Grey Skies (A Song For February) is more upbeat than it’s title suggests. “Wheres Trog?” is an affectionate and bluesy nod to that old Lyttelton alumnus the clarinettist and cartoonist Wally Fawkes.

There are a couple of jazz standards in the form of “My Heart Stood Still” and “Taking A Chance On Love”.

Of the more modern pieces Kathy Dyson’s “To Summer” is a wistful ballad whereas Mike Mokone’s lively “Marabastad” has a South African township jive feel. Diane McLoughlin’s “Urban Cowboy” evokes the feeling of a Pat Metheny composition. There is certainly a wide variety of music on this album.

The pop material includes a cover of Neil Sedaka’s “Breaking Up Is Hard To Do”. Taken at ballad tempo and with a tinge of the blues it is highly effective and adds considerable emotional depth to what previously appeared to be a throwaway pop song. The version of Lennon & McCartney’s “Here There And Everywhere” finds Hodgkin’s horn bringing out the full beauty of McCartney’s tune. “Adoration of the melody” indeed.

The album is book ended by original compositions by members of the trio. Alison Rayner’s “Sweet William” opens the proceedings with a relaxed calypso feel. Hodgkins himself penned the closing “Swinging At The Copper Beech” which pretty much lives up to it’s title and rounds things off on a joyous note.

Once again the playing is superb throughout the album. Hodgkins shows himself to be an assured and versatile player and varies his tone by the judicious use of both cup and harmon mutes. Rayner and Brittain are rhythmically supple, swinging and inventive and both contribute excellent solos throughout the album. In a well-sequenced programme the changes of mood, style and tempo mean that there is always something to interest the listener.

It is impossible for “Future Continuous” to have quite the same impact as it’s predecessor but it is still a beautifully crafted piece of work by three superb musicians.

blog comments powered by Disqus