Karim Saber Quintet, Music Spoken Here, The Marr’s Bar, Worcester, 22/05/2025

Karim Saber – guitar, Matt Cook – tenor sax, Alex Wilson – keyboard, John Jones – double bass, Jack Thomas – drums

This Music Spoken Here event represented a celebration marking both the third anniversary of the foundation of this innovative and increasingly popular series and its fiftieth show, all of which have been at The Marr’s Bar. MSH Instigator Dave Fuller is to be congratulated for  bringing a strand of jazz to Worcester that is not represented at any of our other local jazz clubs, all of which are far more straight ahead.

MSH prides itself on offering the best “jazz, funk and fusion” and this is very much what the regular Thursday night series has delivered over the last three years, sometimes with a side portion of soul, hip hop or gospel thrown in. The new Sunday series will increase the gospel, soul and r’n’b quotient but the regular Thursday shows will continue on a fortnightly basis and will remain as the MSH flagship.

Tonight’s landmark show offered the added bonus of delicious cakes made by Dave’s wife Jenny while the music came from a young London based quintet led by the British-Iranian guitarist and composer Karim Saber. The line up featured exactly the same quintet that appeared on Saber’s debut album “Transmission”, which was released on Ubuntu Music in 2024.

Saber and his quintet had first been spotted by Dave Fuller at a gig at Cherry Red’s in Birmingham and such was the quality of their performance that he was determined to bring them to Worcester. Meanwhile my own appetite had been whetted by a review by Jazzmann guest contributor Colin May who had seen a four piece version of the band, minus saxophonist Matt Cook, in Oxford in February 2025. Colin was also very impressed and his account of the Oxford show can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/karim-saber-quintet-minus-one-oxford-university-jazz-society-at-the-mad-hatter-oxford-12-02-2025

Born in London of Iranian heritage Saber was first encouraged to take up the guitar after hearing the music of rock acts such as System Of A Down, Jimi Hendrix, Nirvana and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. He subsequently attended the Saturday morning sessions at the Roundhouse in Camden, jamming with other, like minded, young musicians.

His interest in jazz was encouraged by his philosophy teacher who introduced him to the music of John Coltrane, Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter – a pretty good place to start.

After leaving school Saber took a gap year and studied jazz guitar with the Australian born guitarist Carl Orr, then a prominent figure on the UK jazz scene prior to his recent move back to Australia.

Saber’s jazz guitar heroes include big names such as Kurt Rosenwinkel and Pat Metheny but also his contemporaries on the UK scene such as Ant Law and Chris Montague, both of whom have been very supportive of him in return. Saber is also an admirer of the Dutch guitarist Reinier Baas, who has worked regularly with British keyboard player Kit Downes.

As Saber has pointed out he had already been playing rock guitar for ten years before discovering jazz and the music that he writes for his quintet contains elements of both, making the group a perfect fit for Music Spoken Here. The current quintet grew out of a residency at the MAP Cafe in Kentish Town, north London that saw Saber’s quartet regularly joined by a guest horn player. Of these Cook displayed a particularly natural affinity for Saber’s music and was subsequently invited to join the group.

Once the band line up had been finalised the quintet quickly entered the studios and recorded the music for their debut album at the Fish Factory studio in London in April 2023. “Transmission” was subsequently released on the Ubuntu Music imprint in 2024. The album was engineered by Sonny Johns and co-produced by Saber and bassist / composer Jasper Hoiby (Phronesis, Fellow Creatures, 3Elements), the involvement of these two industry heavyweights indicative of the esteem in which Saber is held within the jazz community.

“Transmission” features Saber’s original material exclusively. He writes at the piano and his compositional ideas are subsequently developed by him and the entire band as part of a highly interactive and democratic creative process.

As with all almost all contemporary jazz musicians Saber has already moved on from the current album and is already planning the next. The majority of tonight’s programme was comprised of new compositions which will appear on the quintet’s second album release, which will be titled “Sundance” and which is due to be issued towards the end of 2025. “Transmission” was an impressive debut and on the evidence of tonight’s performance “Sundance” is going to be well worth waiting for.

Audience numbers for this evening’s celebratory event were a little bit down on recent gigs but the crowd was very enthusiastic and supportive and rather more vocal than usual as they really got behind this young quintet.

The quintet began with a segue of the new tunes “Litany” and “Canvas”. Named for the “Litany of Fear” from Frank Herbert’s “Dune” novels and the subsequent film franchise “Litany” began in impressionistic fashion with the sounds of electric guitar and electric piano accompanied by mallet rumbles and cymbal shimmers, before a gentle sax melody emerged. The transition into “Canvas” seemed to come when Cook’s tenor playing became more forceful and Thomas began to lay down a powerful rock rhythm from the kit. This was the kind of inventive, contemporary jazz-rock fusion for which MSH has justly become famed for bringing to the discerning music fans of Worcester. A quieter section offered a degree of dynamic variation and featured an articulate double bass solo from Jones. He was followed by Saber with an extended guitar solo full of spiralling invention. Wilson followed on the Nord Stage 4 keyboard that was recently donated to MSH, a generous gift from one of Dave Fuller’s former employers. Wilson adopted an electric piano sound as the group temporarily went into trio mode. A rousing opening sequence was climaxed by a powerful drum feature from Jack Thomas, a young musician whose playing I have previously enjoyed in the more conventional jazz environment of trumpeter Mark Kavuma’s Banger Factory project.

Another new tune, “No Virgos”, acted as vehicle for the talents of featured soloist Matt Cook, whose fluent and inventive work on tenor took place within the framework of a composition that again embraced the concept of shifting dynamics and which also contained some thrillingly staccato math rock riffing. This was an item that was particularly well received by the audience at The Marr’s Bar.

A first dip into the “Transmission” repertoire came with “Turner”, a piece written in 2020/21 and named for the painter JMW Turner. It represents one of Saber’s earliest compositions for this project with the guitarist informing the audience that “it’s a song I’m still very proud of”. And rightly so. This featured a gentler side of the band with Thomas now deploying brushes in support of Saber’s gently melodic soloing, with the guitarist at his most Metheny-like. Wilson, in the Lyle Mays role if you will, favoured an acoustic piano sound for his own solo.

An impressive first set ended with “Purpose”, another new tune scheduled to appear on the quintet’s second album. This combined freely structured passages with more tightly written sections featuring some taut and powerful riffing. Saber was the featured soloist, and was also involved in a series of exchanges with Cook and Wilson.

The second set also began with a segue of pieces as the new tune “Sister Song” was merged with “3 Warwick Street”, a ten minute epic that represents one of the most significant pieces on the “Transmission” album.
“Sister Song” began gently, with just guitar, bass and keyboard before expanding to embrace solos from Saber on guitar, Wilson on electric piano, this followed by a quieter passage featuring the sounds of tenor sax and double bass only.
The addition of keyboard, allied to Thomas’ cymbal scrapes, seemed to signal the shift into “3 Warwick Street”, with a passage of unaccompanied drums acting as the bridge. Guitar arpeggios, keyboard colourations and sax melodies subsequently emerged, signalling the transition into the slow burning but more obviously riff based “3 Warwick Street”, the vehicle for some truly epic extended soloing with Cook really digging in on tenor and Saber unleashing some dazzling guitar pyrotechnics, these two followed by Wilson, again favouring an electric piano sound.

After all this sound and fury the quintet poured oil on troubled waters with the aptly named “Hush”, a much more gentle and melodic offering, ushered in by a delicate solo guitar intro and later featuring the sounds of lilting sax melodies, softly rippling guitar arpeggios and brushed drums. Jones was featured with an extended, and highly melodic bass solo (he is due to return to The Marr’s Bar and MSH on June 12th 2025 with the sextet Dreamscapes, led by guitarist Julian Durand and featuring rising star vocalist Lucy-Anne Daniels). Wilson’s keyboard solo featured an ethereal electric piano sound that was reminiscent of Joe Zawinul’s playing on the Miles Davis album “In a Silent Way”. Cook then returned with a final melodic statement on tenor sax.

The performance concluded with the title track of the forthcoming “Sundance” album, a much more upbeat and hard driving item that ended the evening in rousing and boisterous fashion. Fuelled by the powerful rock influenced rhythms of Thomas both Saber and Wilson unleashed their final solos, each rounding off their night’s work on an energetic high. Finally the dynamic Thomas was set loose with a hard hitting drum feature.

Despite a rapturous response from the audience no encore, as richly deserved as it was, was forthcoming. This was because the band members had to catch the last train back to London and although the interval had been shortened time was still pressing. Most young musicians are concerned about the environment and the Saber quintet seem to travel by rail whenever it’s possible, (they’d also taken ‘the rattler’ to that Oxford gig earlier in the year) and it’s good to see bands taking this option if and when they can. It’s difficult for musicians to square environmental concerns with the nature and mechanics of the music business. I guess that applies to reviewers too, I rack up a lot of miles covering shows, but living as I do in a relatively rural location public transport is hardly ever a viable option.

However, I digress. This was an excellent evening of music from a quintet led by one of the rising stars of UK jazz. Saber is a highly accomplished guitar soloist and also an intelligent and imaginative composer who writes music that is both complex and sophisticated but also readily accessible, skilfully blending elements of jazz and rock. The upcoming “Sundance” album will be very keenly anticipated and is likely to make waves on the UK jazz scene when it actually appears. The quintet is a particularly well balanced unit who have already developed a strong mutual rapport.

In the meantime Saber is also beginning to make a name for himself on the international jazz scene through his work with the German pianist and composer Lukas DeRungs. DeRungs leads an international quintet featuring the British musicians Saber (guitar) and Immy Churchill (voice). This ensemble has toured widely in Europe and released the album “Wake” on the German label Berthold Records in February 2025. Karim was kind enough to forward me a copy of this, but it’s still lurking in the ‘to do’ file, mainly thanks to all the live shows I’ve been covering lately. I intend to take a look at the recording as soon as I can, and tonight’s excellent show has helped to give me a substantial nudge in that direction. It’s coming soon I promise!

Thanks to Karim for chatting with me during the interval. He’s an excellent musician and a genuinely nice guy who deserves the success that is surely coming his way.

IAN MANN

Dave Fuller’s own account of the evening’s events appears below;

Exceptional New Music Marks 50th Show

Considering the smashing start we had to the year, I was a little disappointed to see only 30 people were able to make it down last Thursday for our 50th show, marking three years of incredible jazz, funk and fusion at The Marr’s Bar. Nonetheless, the music from guitarist Karim Saber and his incredible quintet was exceptional (as were the lemon drizzle and chocolate Guinness cakes, made by my wife Jenny).

It was also the first time our new Nord Stage keyboard was played, by Alex Wilson, returning to the Marr’s Bar stage after first appearing with Zeñel in June 2023 (if you missed them first time around, Zeñel will be back to open our Autumn program in September). The quintet was completed with Matt Cook on tenor sax, John Jones on bass and Jack Thomas on drums.

I’d booked the band after seeing them last summer at Cherry Red’s in Birmingham, where they mostly played music from Karim’s debut album “Transmission”. Tonight we were treated to new music from their forthcoming album “Sundance”, recorded in January and expected later this year, with only one tune in each set coming from the first album.

The first set opened with the drifting introduction to “Litany”, based on the Litany Against Fear from Frank Herbert’s Dune. This transitioned into “Canvas”, a pleasing, energetic groove with a strong melodic line stated by Matt. The band then got down to business with “No Virgos” featuring Matt and ending with a wild crescendo!

Things calmed down a bit as Karim introduced “Turner” from the “Transmission” album as one of his earliest compositions and one he is, rightly, very proud of. “Purpose” brought the first set to a close, another strong, melodic tune with some fascinating rhythmic wizardry, eventually bursting out into a fantastic feast of fusion!

“Sister Song” gently eased us into the second set, featuring delightful solos from Karim and Alex making good use of the Rhodes electric piano sound on our new Nord Stage. This seamlessly merged into “3 Warwick Street”, taken from the “Transmission” album, which developed into a more lively affair featuring Matt’s raucous tenor saxophone.

The room fell silent for “Hush”, a delicate, reflective piece with a beautiful bass feature from John and another great electric piano excursion from Alex. The set closed out with the title track of the new album “Sundance”, a belter that jumped right in with a driving beat and featured some blistering fretboard antics from Karim.

As the band had to catch the last train back to London, there was unfortunately no time left for an encore, however saxophonist Matt Cook will be playing at The Night Owl on the excellent Digbeth Jazz program this Tuesday with his own quintet that includes Karim and John Jones.

Karim’s writing conveys a great range of emotions, with plenty of space for the band to fill with their own contributions. A few people noted the lack of sheet music that often forms something of a barrier between the musicians and audience on our jazz nights. Considering the duration and complexity of some of the pieces played this evening, it was a testament to the standard of these artists and the cohesive unit they have developed.

I look forward to the release of “Sundance” and hope to see some of you at The Night Owl on Tuesday for Matt Cook.

DAVE FULLER

 

 

 

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