Neil Yates

“Five Countries”

(Edition Records EDN1029)

The Manchester born trumpeter Neil Yates made his Edition Records début as part of the ensemble that featured on label boss Dave Stapleton’s excellent 2008 album “Catching Sunlight”. Now Yates returns to the label as the leader of his own trio performing an innovative and highly personal blend of jazz and folk music in the company of Hungarian acoustic guitarist Zsolt Bende and Irish bodhran player and percussionist Cormac Byrne. I saw the trio perform much of this music on the free stage at the Queen Elizabeth Hall as part of the 2011 London Jazz Festival and a review of that performance can be found as part of our feature covering the festival.

Yates has been a stalwart of the UK jazz scene for many year featuring in a variety of contexts. I think I first encountered his playing as a member of Gary Crosby’s Nu Troop many years ago. More recently Yates has been exploring his love of Northern brass band sounds plus a simultaneous enthusiasm for Irish and other traditional musics. In doing so he has expanded upon his jazz roots to create music that is both innovative and highly personal, his pushing of the boundaries culminating firstly in his brass led 2007 Cheltenham Jazz commission “Sketches From A Northern Town” and now in this convincing blend of jazz and folk elements. For all his love of tradition Yates’ music also looks forwards, “Five Countries” makes judicious use of electronics, particularly live looping, to add to the often mystical atmosphere.

The title “Five Countries” is a reference to the three musicians’ countries of birth, migration and subsequent domicile. The music covers an appropriately broad stylistic range and by virtue of its personal nature often exudes a very real sense of place. Yates is responsible for the bulk of the compositions and collaborates with Bende on the lovely “Izabella’s Dream”. The guitarist contributes the atmospheric ballad “Freedoms Lost” while the closing “Seventh Sense” also incorporates “Watermans” by the renowned folk flautist Michael McGoldrick. Born in Manchester of Irish heritage McGoldrick is an acknowledged master of Irish traditional music on flutes and whistles and his techniques have exerted a considerable influence on Yates’ increasingly unique trumpet style- a style Yates has dubbed “diddle knock” in acknowledgement of its folk inspired origins.

The album commences with “Flutter and Flight” which makes use of live looping to create an atmospheric backdrop for Yates’ feathery tone as Bende’s quietly insistent guitar chording and the patter of Byrne’s percussion provide rhythmic impetus. Bende also features as a soloist with his cleanly picked quietly articulate style.

The opening track sets the mood for the album as the segue of “Snowdonia/Sail The Sky” explores broadly similar territory blending folk melody with occasional elements of discreet electronica. Yates’ fluent trumpet whisper is more personalised than ever with even stronger elements of McGoldrick’s folk influence.

“Frozen Forest” conjures up the chilly winter landscapes of Bende’s native Hungary and showcases his guitar alongside Yates’ fluid, long lined improvisations. Bende’s sense of space on the acoustic guitar is sometimes reminiscent of a European Ralph Towner.. Byrne’s percussion work on this track is also superlative, incorporating his trademark bodhran with cymbals and other items from the standard drum kit. I’m used to seeing him as the driving force of folk rock acts such as Uiscedwr and the Seth Lakeman Trio, a fiery player capable of providing an incredible rhythmic impetus from the bodhran as well as being a spectacular soloist. It’s intriguing to hear him in a different context where the focus is as much on colour and texture as on pure rhythm and on the whole he performs brilliantly.

Yates’ habit of bracketing tunes together probably has it’s origins in the dance “sets” of traditional Irish music. “Dustfall/Spin The Sky” represents another good example of Yates’ folk inspired trumpet technique.

“Freedoms Lost” is a moving and beautiful ballad with a haunting air of fragility and features Yates on tenor horn.. By way of contrast the following “Izabella’s Dream” is positively joyous. Jointly written by Bande and Yates the tune is dedicated to their two young daughters and was one of the most effective items in their London Jazz Festival set. There’s a strong hint of flamenco here alongside the more obvious Celtic folk influences. 

“Slipreel”, with Yates doubling on whistle, is the most obvious nod to the Irish folk tradition but still maintains the reflective mood of the rest of the album with subtle electronica again adding to the colours created by the three musicians.

Both “Storm On The Irish Sea” and “Rainy Harbour” are highly descriptive evoke a strong sense of place. Yates announcements at LJF placed these tunes on the Liverpool/Belfast ferry and Rhos on Sea harbour respectively. Both use live looping techniques to build their evocative atmospheres and to give each piece a distinct cinematic quality.

The album closes with a segue of Yates’ “Seventh Sense” and McGoldrick’s “Watermans”, the first featuring Yates’ fluttering trumpet and Bende’s cleanly picked guitar above Byrne’s rich bodhran undertow-in seven, naturally enough. A short passage of solo bodhran (in the main Byrne doesn’t recreate the high octane solos he produces with Uiscedwr and Lakeman) provides the bridge into a brief statement of McGoldrick’s “Waterman’s” theme, a nice acknowledgement from Yates to a musician who has been a huge influence on his own playing.

“Five Countries” is a highly accomplished album the blends folk and jazz with intelligence and a quiet passion. It maintains a unified atmosphere throughout and if there’s a criticism of the album it is that it’s rather one paced. Having said that the trio touch a number of bases with Spanish and North African elements sidling in between the more obvious Jazz and Celtic influences. Jazz/folk crossovers are nothing new but Yates’ is more distinctive than most and his trumpet techniques are highly innovative. Bende and Byrne offer sympathetic support, both displaying a low key virtuosity and a high level of musical intelligence. If anything this music is even more effective in a live context where the skills of the players can be more properly appreciated.

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