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Review

Kairos 4tet

Kairos 4tet, Rush Hour Blues, Symphony Hall Foyer, Birmingham, 05/02/2010


by Ian Mann

February 08, 2010

/ LIVE

Ian Mann on Birmingham Jazz's "Rush Hour Blues" concert series, this week featuring the music of Kairos 4tet

The “Rush Hour Blues” series of concerts promoted by Birmingham Jazz in conjunction with Symphony Hall continues to grow in strength and influence. These free early evening concerts begin at 5.30pm each Friday in the foyer of Birmingham’s magnificent Symphony Hall and regularly pull in crowds of two hundred or so. Some of the attendees are committed jazz fans and RHB regulars but there are many more casual listeners just checking things out. Some of these may be fans of other musical genres arriving early for the night’s performance in the main house, in this case it was folk buffs turning up for the later Transatlantic Sessions, but in any event it’s a great way of introducing jazz to a wider constituency than just the already converted. Whenever I’ve attended these events (very irregularly I’ll admit) the music has been extremely well received by aficionados and newcomers alike. RHB really helps to get the Jazz Message out there.

In it’s early days RHB concentrated on showcasing Birmingham based performers but it has expanded it’s remit and now regularly features bands from further afield including tonight’s quartet from London.  Pianist Kit Downes is due to visit with his trio on March 19th as RHB becomes an increasingly important date on the touring calendar.  The series has even had international performers, last year The Jazzmann covered an exciting RHB performance by young German trumpet star and ACT recording artist Matthias Schriefl.

Under the leadership of saxophonist Adam Waldmann Kairos 4tet have produced one of the new year’s most charming new releases in the form of their début “Kairos Moment” (see review elsewhere on this site). Joining Waldmann in Birmingham were album personnel Rob Barron (piano), Jasper Hoiby (bass) and Jon Scott ( drums). Introduced by promoter Tony Dudley-Evans of Birmingham Jazz and Cheltenham Jazz Festival fame they produced two compelling sets of Waldmann’s original material that mixed tracks from the album with newer as yet unrecorded tunes.

Kairos’ music is understated, lyrical and highly melodic with influences that include Wayne Shorter and Birmingham’s own Julian Arguelles. Waldmann is something of a soprano sax specialist but here he started on tenor for the impressionistic “Kairos Moment”, a piece which resurfaces in different guises throughout the album. Waldmann’s tenor whispered above the free form floating rhythmic pulse established by Scott and Hoiby before he switched to soprano as the piece segued into the more song like “Hymn For Her”, one of the album’s stand out cuts. Here Waldmann’s soprano variously sang, probed and danced above Hoiby’s powerful bass undertow before the excellent Barron weighed in with a flowing piano solo. There was also a feature for talented young drummer Scott. Kairos may be airy and tuneful but with Hoiby and Scott on board there’s always something interesting going on rhythmically, for all their accessibility Kairos are never effete.

Barron’s solo piano introduced a new Waldmann composition entitled “The Calling”, the folk tinged melody being sketched by the leader on soprano with fluent solos subsequently coming from Barron and Hoiby.

“V.C” the album’s spirited opener here fulfilled a different role by closing the first set on a high note. Waldmann’s serpentine soprano slithered around Barron’s percussive piano and Scott’s neatly detailed drumming. The pianist again contributed a memorable solo before Waldmann took over for a major statement of his own. This was excellent stuff and by the break the crowd, who had initially shown a little scepticism were fully converted. 

The second set began with another new tune “Me And You 100 Degrees” apparently inspired by Barron holding a drunken conversation with an electric kettle (don’t ask!). Whatever, this was another winning item with Waldmann’s soprano suggesting a distinctly Middle Eastern flavour. Hoiby and Barron also featured as soloists, the bassist’s huge figures providing the backdrop for Barron’s piano.

The highly descriptive “The Passage” proved to be another hugely impressive new item. With Waldmann still on soprano the tune had a decidedly pictorial quality and framed Hoiby’s best solo of the evening plus another impressive contribution from Barron who contributed some scintillating right hand figures.

Waldmann reverted to tenor for “Unresolved”, the album version of which features the lyrics and pure vocals of Swedish born singer Emilia Martensson. Here the quartet played the piece as a tenor sax ballad with Waldmann’s warm, feathery sax coming in after Barron’s solo piano intro. Hoiby’s delicately lyrical bass solo which saw him utilising the full range of his instrument was another highlight.

The closing “Russell’s Resurgence” is Waldmann’s dedication to fellow saxophonist Russell Van Den Berg. Here it was introduced by the dark tones of Hoiby’s unaccompanied bass before the melody kicked in courtesy of Waldmann’s soprano. The piece is one of the album’s more upbeat offerings and it proved hugely popular here. Hoiby’s meaty bass solo above Scott’s skittering drums and Barron’s empathic comping was a highlight as was Scott’s subsequent drum feature.

Unfortunately there was insufficient time for an encore as events in the main house were imminent but nonetheless this had been a highly enjoyable hour or so spent in the company of one of the UK’s most promising young bands. The new material revealed that Waldmann has lost none of his abilities as a composer and the second Kairos 4tet album due to be recorded later in the year promises to be just as good as the first.

RHB is a welcome and hugely important component on the Birmingham jazz scene and is increasingly acquiring a national significance. The only draw backs are the fact that the audience doesn’t listen as intently as a fee paying one,inevitable I suppose, but although there is an element of extraneous chatter in the main people are very good. Sometimes as here, the sets have to be kept rather short (I could gladly have listened to a lot more of this), and these factors have led me to a 3.5 rating rather than a 4. However these star ratings are pretty arbitrary and the success and importance of RHB shouldn’t be understated.

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