Five Way Split

“Modus Operandi”

(5WS Records)

Quentin Collins – trumpet, flugelhorn, Vasilis Xenopoulos – tenor & soprano saxophone, Rob Barron – acoustic & electric piano, Matyas Hofecker – double bass, Matt Home – drums

Five Way Split is a stellar London based quintet co-led by the group’s three composers, trumpeter Quentin Collins, saxophonist Vasilis Xenopoulos and pianist Rob Barron.

All five band members have been regular presences on the Jazzmann web pages over the years, as leaders, co-leaders or prolific sideman. Lack of space and time precludes any kind of dive into their individual musical histories, but search for any of these names and you’ll find multiple entries all over this site.

The musicians first came together as Five Way Split in the summer of 2020 at the height of the pandemic, a time that the band members describe as “when performance opportunities were scarce, but creative energy was strong”. A slight easing of the Covid restrictions allowed them to gather at Home’s house for a lockdown jam, the group members rapidly establishing a rapport that has eventually led to a more permanent alliance.

Their shared love of hard bop initially saw them playing material by composers such as Jimmy Heath, Cedar Walton, Horace Silver and Fred Lacey, with Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers and Silver’s quintet being acknowledged as particularly important sources of inspiration.

Having honed their sound playing classics from the hard bop canon Collins, Xenopoulos and Barron began to bring their own compositions and arrangements to the quintet’s repertoire, still essentially writing within the classic hard bop template. The band members describe themselves as “musicians with a shared passion for continuing the lineage of Contemporary Bop Music”.

Recorded in October 2021 and released in March 2023 Five Way Split’s début album “All The Way” featured seven original compositions from members of the band plus a Barron arrangement of Jimmy Van Heusen’s title tune and the quintet’s interpretation of Fred Lacey’s “Theme for Ernie”. My review of the album can be found here.
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/five-way-split-all-the-way

I’d always harboured an ambition to see the band play live, encouraged by guest contributor Trevor Bannister’s very favourable review of a performance by the quintet at the Progress Theatre in Reading in May 2024. Trevor’s account can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/five-way-split-progress-theatre-reading-berkshire-10-05-2024

I finally caught up with Five Way Split myself at an excellent EFG London Jazz Festival performance at the Crazy Coqs venue in November 2025. The programme featured much of the material that would subsequently appear on the then unreleased “Modus Operandi”. Seeing some of the tunes being performed live prior to hearing them on the recording has offered me some valuable insights into some of the inspirations behind the material. My review of that Crazy Coqs show can be found as part of my EFG LJF coverage here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/features/article/efg-london-jazz-festival-2025-day-two-saturday-15-11-2025

Winners of the ‘Best Ensemble’ award at the 2024 Parliamentary Jazz Awards Five Way Split have already acquired a considerable following. As the album title might suggest the band’s ‘MO’ remains much the same with Collins, Xenopoulos and Barron all contributing original compositions that are very much in the hard bop vein. In his capacity as a skilled arranger Barron also adds his adaptations of tunes by Henry Mancini (“Dreamsville”) and Peter Nero (“Sunday in New York”).

If I hadn’t attended that live show at Crazy Coqs I might not have picked up on the fact that the title of the opening track   “Dr. Stol” represents a cleverly coded dedication to London’s 606 Jazz Club, something of a ‘spiritual home’ for the band and located on Lots Road in Chelsea. Introduced by Home at the drums Barron’s tune eases the listener in fairly gently, with subtly swinging rhythms providing the basis for fluent and expansive solos from Collins on flugel, Xenopoulos on tenor and the composer at the piano. There’s also some impressive interplay between the horns during the ensemble sections.

Collins’ title track sees the composer switching to trumpet and impressing first with his playing of the tricky bebop influenced theme and then on his subsequent solo. His playing is bright, brassy, fluent and adventurous. Xenopoulos is similarly incisive and inventive on tenor while Barron stretches out effectively at the piano as Hofecker and Home provide suitably propulsive swinging support. Once again there’s some inventive dialogue between the horns during the opening and closing ensemble passages.

Barron’s “Soho Soiree” honours the London locale that is home to some of the capital’s leading jazz clubs, such as Ronnie Scott’s, Pizza Express, and, of course, Crazy Coqs. Once again the deluxe rhythm team of Hofecker and Home combine with the composer to impart the music with an easy swing, the perfect platform for the expansive soloing of Xenopoulos on tenor and Barron at the piano. Hofecker steps out of the shadows to deliver his first bass solo of the set, an articulate and dexterous four string excursion.

Xenopoulos makes his compositional bow with “Two Little Alphas”, a dedication to his two young sons, Andreas and Alexander. It’s a lively Latin-esque composition that captures something of the energy of its two young dedicatees. Ushered in by Barron at the piano the Afro-Cuban style rhythms help to fuel fiery solos from Collins on trumpet and the composer on tenor. Barron is then featured more extensively and Home enjoys a lively drum feature towards the close.

Barron’s arrangement of Henry Mancini’s “Dreamsville” cools the temperature once more with the lyrical soloing of Barron on piano and Collins on flugel. With Home deploying brushes throughout the performance is also notable for the melodic exchanges between Collins on flugel and Xenopoulos on tenor.

The saxophonist takes up the compositional reins again on “Pandora’s Box”, slice of classic hard bop that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Blue Note release from the 50s or 60s. Propelled by Hofecker’s rapid bass lines and Home’s crisp, swinging drumming it fairly barrels along, with Xenopoulos leading the charge with an ebullient tenor solo. Barron exhibits a similar exuberance at the piano, Collins dazzles on trumpet and finally Home enjoys a rumbustious and very substantial drum feature.

This time it’s Collins’ time to cool thing down a little with his composition “Viennese Whirlwind”, which is a lot less frenetic than its title might suggest. Instead it’s an elegant, episodic piece that unfolds slowly and organically and incorporates thoughtful solos from Barron on piano and Collins on flugel plus a gently melodic double bass feature from Hofecker.  Xenopoulos follows, this time on soprano, while Home gravitates between brushes and sticks as the ebb and flow of the music requires.

Barron’s sophisticated arrangement of Peter Nero’s “Sunday in New York” sees Xenopoulos returning to the tenor, his warm round tone on the instrument an effective contrast with the cooler sound of Collin’s muted trumpet as the pair exchange phrases above the slinky,  subtly propulsive rhythmic undertow. The excellent Hofecker steps out of the shadows with another impressive bass feature, while Barron is relaxed and fluent during a concise piano solo.

The album concludes with Collins’ “X.O. Buzz”, a ballad featuring the composer on flugel and Barron on Rhodes. It’s Barron that takes the first solo on the electric keyboard, underpinned by double bass and Home’s subtle drumming, mainly deploying mallets. Collins is also featured as a soloist as the album ends on an unexpectedly gentle note.

“Modus Operandi” represents an impressive second outing from Five Way Split. Although very much rooted in the hard bop tradition the original writing is intelligent and also surprisingly subtle in terms of colour and texture, with the interplay between the horns a particularly notable feature in this regard. The album is also impressively varied in terms of styles and dynamics, within the overall ‘hard bop’ template. As one would expect from players of this calibre the standard of the musicianship is universally high throughout, with the band members delivering some outstanding individual solos in addition to functioning superbly as a particularly well balanced unit.

While it can be argued that Five Way Split’s sound is derivative the band’s music also makes for a highly enjoyable listening experience, one which has won this comparative ‘supergroup’ a substantial following on the London jazz circuit and on the wider UK jazz scene.

Although the album was released on March 16th 2026 the official album launch gig will be at the Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho, London on April 27th.

“Modus Operandi” is available here;
https://5-waysplit.bandcamp.com/music

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