Marius Neset Quintet, CBSO Centre, Birmingham, 10/04/2015.

The Norwegian saxophonist and composer Marius Neset has been a frequent presence on the Jazzmann web pages since the release of his breakthrough album “Golden Xplosion” for the Cardiff based Edition record label in 2011. This recording earned Neset an astonishing degree of critical acclaim and he proceeded to enhance his reputation yet further with a string of exciting live performances including festival dates at Cheltenham and Brecon. The even more ambitious “Birds” (2013) cemented his position as one of the outstanding young European jazz talents and Neset subsequently moved to the Munich based ACT label for the release of “Lion” (2014), a large ensemble project recorded with the Trondheim Jazz Orchestra.

Neset’s latest ACT offering, “Pinball” (2015), finds him returning to the small group format with a densely knit quintet featuring piano, vibes/marimba, double bass and drums plus the leader’s tenor and soprano saxophones. It’s as exciting as anything he’s ever done, an amalgam of dense, busy , frequently complex yet eminently accessible writing and virtuoso playing by an international ensemble featuring the British musicians Jim Hart (vibes, marimba) and Ivo Neame (piano, keyboards). 

Although I’ve seen Neset play live several times before the sheer quality and vivacity of the performances on “Pinball” led to a last minute decision to check out the quintet at this Jazzlines gig at Birmingham’s CBSO Centre. Joining Neset on this occasion were album personnel Jim Hart and Petter Eldh (double bass). With both Neame and drummer Anton Eger unavailable, presumably touring with Phronesis, their places were taken by pianist Magnus Hjorth and Troyka sticks man Joshua Blackmore. Rather ironically Hjorth was Neame’s predecessor in Phronesis and appeared on that group’s début album “Organic Warfare”.

Tonight’s quintet proved to be as highly skilled and tightly drilled as the one on the record with the versatile Blackmore more than capable of dealing with the complexities of Neset’s writing - after all this is the man who readily negotiates Troyka’s tight turns and tricky dynamic and time signature changes. 

Neset’s writing draws on many sources, from jazz to classical to traditional Norwegian folk music.
But the twenty nine year old Bergen native is no Jan Garbarek clone and steadfastly avoids all the usual cool “Nordic Jazz” clichés. Instead his role models are primarily American, particularly fellow saxophonists Charlie Parker and Michael Brecker, both of whom helped to inspire his power and fluency. As a composer Neset is full of ideas, drawn from many sources but united by a sense of daring and skill. Neset pushes the envelope but does so in a way that remains accessible to audiences, there’s definitely an element of the showman in the audaciousness of his writing and the technical brilliance of his playing. He’s a major league soloist and he needs outstanding musicians around him just to keep pace with the sheer flow of his ideas and in this quintet he has players who can do just that. More importantly they also bring something of themselves to the music, but there’s never any doubt about just whose band it is.

In this, his first visit to Birmingham since 2013, Neset and his colleagues delivered two intense sets of material sourced mainly from the new “Pinball” album. It was complex, thrilling and brilliantly played beginning with a segue of the linked pieces “World Song Parts 1 & 2” which opens the new album. Introduced here by Hart at the marimba the tightly interlocking rhythms created by the combination of Hart, Hjorth, Eldh and Blackmore formed the springboard for Neset’s virtuoso tenor sax soloing.  Moving to the vibes Hart delivered a mesmerising four mallet solo that exhibited a remarkable degree of fluency and technical skill. Arguably Britain’s most accomplished vibraphonist he’s a highly watchable performer who never ceases to amaze. I also enjoyed his contribution on his newly purchased marimba, the different timbres of the two tuned percussion instruments helping to broaden the overall ensemble sound. The second part of the “World Song” segue also included the hand clapped rhythms that distinguish a recorded version that also includes additional instruments in the form of flute, cello and violin. Hjorth demonstrated his pianistic abilities with a succinct solo. Having only heard him on record previously I was hugely impressed by his contribution here. Comparisons may be odious but nevertheless he and Neame share several traits, both are resourceful and adventurous soloists but are also highly accomplished ensemble performers with a high degree of technical skill.

Also from “Pinball” the brief but descriptive and lovely “Aberhonddu” (the Welsh name for Brecon) featured the atmospheric sound of Hart’s bowed vibes alongside Hjorth’s rippling piano arpeggios and Neset’s brooding tenor sax ruminations.

Neset informed us that the title track of “Pinball” was indeed inspired by the rhythms of the flippers of a pinball machine. The quirky theme featured the pecking sound of the leader’s tenor alongside Hart’s marimba with the eventual addition of the rest of the band propelling the music into even more complex rhythmic areas. These switchback rhythms fuelled an expansive and exciting solo from Hjorth which was followed by a brief pastoral, almost “Nordic”,  interlude as Neset switched to soprano. After this brief folk inspired section the energy levels quickly peaked again with a stunningly mercurial soprano solo from Neset who is capable of displaying an equal brilliance on both of his chosen saxophones.

Neset reached back to the “Golden Xplosion” era for the haunting ballad “Sane” which was introduced by a passage of delicate solo piano and subsequently featured the leader’s ruminative tenor sax alongside soft, floaty vibes and delicately brushed drums. Eldh’s richly resonant double bass solo was followed by a duet between Neset and Hjorth before the piece seemed to mutate into something else entirely with a sudden upsurge of energy and lengthy tenor solo in saxophone trio mode propelled by the vigorous slapping of Eldh’s bass and the clatter of Blackmore’s cowbells. Brief solo cameos by Hart on vibes and Hjorth on piano were followed by a series of thrilling exchanges between the pair before the piece resolved itself with an almost free-form passage as the music seemed to collapse in on itself, the eerie sound of Hart’s bowed vibes ushering us into the half time interval.

Set two began with “Theatre of Magic”, a piece from “Pinball” jointly written by Neset and Anton Eger. It differed substantially from the recorded version and began with a passage of unaccompanied tenor saxophone that was, briefly, almost Garbarek like. The addition of the other instruments   took the music into different realms as Neset’s playing became increasingly strident with his colleagues delivering powerful rhythms that were almost “straightahead” at times. Hjorth seemed to be singing the melody to himself as Neset switched from tenor to soprano with no apparent loss of momentum or impact.

The suitably lithe “Jaguar” was introduced by Eldh’s powerful bass plucking and featured an extended dialogue between himself and Hjorth above the chatter of Blackmore’s drums. This developed into a full on piano solo as Neset gave his sidemen the chance to stretch out, punctuating their features with short bursts of tenor. It was then the turn of the Brits in the band, Hart and Blackmore, to impress with a series of thrilling marimba and drum exchanges before Neset took the piece storming out on tenor.

The composition “Saxophone Intermezzo” first appeared on the album “Golden Xplosion” as a solo saxophone performance. It has been developed over the years and has always been a staple part of Neset’s live performances. Tonight it was presented as a duet between Neset and the excellent Hjorth eventually seguing into the tune “Police” from the latest album, “Pinball”. The jagged rhythms and manic energy of “Police” fuelled a dazzling solo from Hart on vibraphone, the combination of just vibes, bass and drums sometimes reminiscent of his own Cloudmakers Trio. The dense meshing of the rhythms beneath the returning Neset sometimes reminded of the Claudia Quintet, which is praise indeed.

The evening concluded with an epic reading of the composition “Odes of You” from the new album.
Solo piano introduced this haunting ballad with its sparse brushed drum grooves, created in tandem by Blackmore and Hart at a shared kit. Hjorth took the first solo, his playing spare, thoughtful and lyrical. An unaccompanied tenor sax episode from Neset featured over-blowing and the subtle use of harmolodics plus the manipulation of the instrument’s keys to create percussive rhythms. In a departure from the recorded version the band seemed to pick up on these with Hart moving back to the vibes as Neset began to solo more conventionally, his horn taking scintillating flight for the final time before an atmospheric diminuendo incorporating the use of bowed vibes.

Despite the brilliance of the performance there was to be no encore. Even after allowing for the excellence of the acoustics the sheer vastness of the CBSO Centre building seemed to subdue and something of the awed enthusiasm that normally greets a Marius Neset performance seemed to be missing. However even though this performance never quite developed into an “event” there was no denying the quality of the music we had heard or the outstanding level of the musicianship with every band member displaying an astonishing mastery of their respective instruments. I’ve always loved the playing of both Neset and Hart, inspired soloists who always deliver, I was impressed with Hjorth on my first live sighting, Eldh again impressed after appearing at this venue previously with Django Bates and Blackmore slotted in brilliantly, dealing with the complexities of Neset’s music with considerable aplomb. Meanwhile the “Pinball” album is also highly recommended, arguably Neset’s finest to date.   

Previously I had enjoyed Jazzlines’ free early evening event at the Café Bar in the foyer at Symphony Hall. Billed as the Jazzlines Ensemble the event comprised of performances by young Birmingham based musicians who were benefiting from Jazzlines’ education and outreach programme. Originally organised to help under privileged young musicians in the Ladywood area of Birmingham the programme benefited from the input of the late trumpeter and educator Abram Wilson (1973-2012) in its early years and the Jazzlines organisation continues to do great educational work around the city. The programme is led multi instrumentalist and educator Percy Pursglove and vocalist/pianist Sara Colman and co-ordinated by administrator Phil Woods. 

Today’s showcase was co-ordinated by Pursglove with significant input from guest tutor Trish Clowes and with graduates and final year student from the Jazz Course at Birmingham Conservatoire also contributing. Among the latter were pianist Dave Ferris, bassist Stu Barker and drummer Ric Yarborough.

Clowes opened the proceedings leading a group featuring Pursglove on trumpet and including Barker and Yarborough. Among the tunes played was Clowes’ own “Little Tune”, written in the style of a jazz standard.

Pursglove then directed and played with the prodigiously young Monk Band on two arrangements of Thelonious tunes, “Bemsha Swing” and “Think Of One”. With Barker anchoring the ensemble on bass Pursglove let his young charges handle the solos with the teenage (or maybe even younger!) alto saxophonist, clarinettist, trumpeter and drummer all impressing. Who knows, we might have glimpsed some real stars of the future.

The Jazzlines Trio of Ferris, Barker and Yarborough then performed an excellent version of Ornette Coleman’s “When Will The Blues Leave”. This excellent young trio recently supported the American saxophonist and band leader Kenny Garrett at his recent gig at Birmingham Town Hall.

Clowes the led a student ensemble with whom she had been working on a set of tunes including an arrangement of Wayne Shorter’s “Speak No Evil”. The American saxophonist and composer has been a particularly strong influence on Clowes as both a musician and a writer. As Pursglove had done previously Clowes offered plenty of soloing opportunities to her slightly older charges with solos coming from the youthful exponents of tenor sax, alto sax, trombone, trumpet, guitar and drums with everybody acquitting themselves well and with the young female trombonist perhaps the pick of the bunch.

To close Pursglove brought the members of both student ensembles plus most of the “professionals”  together for a joyous rendition of Johnny Dyani’s “Ithi Gqi” which Percy didn’t even try to pronounce but which was a song that I recognised as being from the repertoire of the Dedication Orchestra. With its vocal chants, delightful melody and general air of inclusiveness this piece was the perfect finale for an enjoyable early evening session of music making. A large audience in the foyer space at Symphony Hall responded warmly and enthusiastically to the music that they had heard and the young musicians were given great encouragement and support throughout. In its own way this was more of an “event” than the main concert later on with both the performers and the audience taking a great deal from it. Jazz education in Birmingham would appear to be in very safe hands.