Neon Quartet, Midlands Arts Centre (mac), Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham, 09/03/2013.

Saxophonist and composer Stan Sulzmann has been a stalwart of the British jazz scene for over forty years. Along with musicians such as Kenny Wheeler, John Taylor and John Surman this former young lion has become something of an elder statesman and although less well known than these three Sulzmann has also continued to create consistently interesting, occasionally challenging and always forward looking music.

A skilled composer for both small groups and large ensembles the self effacing Sulzmann has recorded sporadically and his output has not been documented as frequently as it perhaps should have been. It’s therefore been particularly pleasing to have witnessed the new lease of life and recorded renaissance that Sulzmann has enjoyed in recent years with his Neon project. Originally conceived as a trio the first edition of Neon saw Sulzmann teamed with two of the brightest rising stars of UK jazz, pianist Gwilym Simcock and vibraphonist Jim Hart. The resultant album “From Here to There”, released in 2007 on Basho records was a surprisingly spirited affair that transcended the limitations of the “chamber jazz” instrumentation with both Simcock and Hart bringing a surprising, and entirely welcome, degree of rhythmic drive to the group. The trio played a number of live dates and it became apparent that the project, which in all probability was conceived as a one off, had considerable potential for further development. 

When the perennially busy Simcock left the group he was replaced by a similarly precocious pianistic talent in the shape of the slightly younger Kit Downes with Hart remaining on board and with the group expanding to a four piece with the addition of drummer Tim Giles. The freshly constituted Neon Quartet subsequently moved to Edition Records releasing the albums “Catch Me” in 2010 and “Subjekt” in 2012. These two recordings attracted even greater plaudits than the Basho release and the quartet has continued to work on a fairly regular basis ever since. I saw them give a superb live performance at The Edge Arts Centre in Much Wenlock in May 2011 and was keen to see them again in Birmingham and to monitor their progress.

There was a clear artistic progression between “Catch Me” and “Subjekt” with Downes adding electric keyboards to his armoury as the group began to create an increasingly complex and layered sound not entirely dissimilar to that of the new York based Claudia Quintet led by influential drummer and composer John Hollenbeck. Tonight’s show, which was mainly comprised of material sourced from the “Subjekt” album took this process a stage further. Downes set up now included a Hammond keyboard (part digital, part valve as he later informed me) perched on top of the mac’s Bosendorfer grand piano with the electric instrument being deployed extensively and acting as far more than a mere textural device. It’s some six years since I first saw Hart play as the leader of his own Gemini group. During that time he has developed the technique of using bows on his vibes, a technique also used extensively by Claudia’s Matt Moran, and tonight he made far more extensive use of the bows than I’ve ever seen from him before. The resultant eerie shimmer, allied to Downes use of the Hammond gave the music a thoroughly contemporary ambience as the Neon group moved even further away from its chamber jazz origins. With Giles now providing the rhythm there is greater scope for Hart to concentrate on melody, nuance and texture, a chance he’s only too happy to grab with two hands, two bows and four mallets.

Despite Sulzmann’s nominal leadership (he handles all the announcements in his diffidently deadpan but slyly humorous manner) this is a highly interactive group with the composing duties split pretty much evenly between Sulzmann, Hart and Downes. There’s no doubt that the younger guys have given Sulzmann a new lease of life and propelled him out of his comfort zone,  Neon’s music is often fiendishly complex and almost certainly a bit of a devil to play but Sulzmann appears to relish the challenge and to love every minute of it. Yet for all that Sulzmann’s own playing is very much in the tradition, it’s the context in which he sets it that makes Neon’s music so fascinating, a beguiling mix of the old and new performed with a dazzling degree of musicianship.

The quartet began with “Mother Hen”, Downes’ dedication to drummer and sometime colleague James Maddren. A dramatically atmospheric intro featured the other worldly sound of Hart’s bowed vibes leading eventually to more conventional solos by Sulzmann on tenor and Hart deploying four mallets on the vibes. Sulzmann’s playing was relatively straight ahead but the rhythms above which he soared became increasingly complex before the piece was symmetrically resolved with an atmospheric outro featuring bowed vibes, electric keyboards and the rustle of Giles’ shakers.

Hart’s “Maison Musique” was named for a jazz club in Turin and opened with the three younger members of the group deploying vibes, electric keyboard and drums with Downes subsequently laying down block chords and rummaging in the piano’s interior as the odd meter grooves took on even greater complexity. Hart’s solo was stunning, throwing down the gauntlet to Sulzmann who responded with some quiet fire of his own before a lyrical coda featuring bowed vibes and Downes doubling up on piano and organ.

Sulzmann’s “Ruskins Retreat” added a degree of lyricism and pastoralism to the proceedings in a beguiling depiction of the artist’s safe haven at Box Hill. The solo tenor sax intro was particularly captivating with Sulzmann subsequently picking out the theme on tenor. Other inspired moments came with Downes’ solo, accompanied only by Giles at the drums, and from Hart’s solo with the mercurial mallet man slowing down for a moment and placing the emphasis on lyricism and beauty.

The first half concluded with “Chuchu” , a Sulzmann tune first written for the Neon trio and dedicated to the Colombian born bass player Chuchu Merchan who lived and worked in the UK during the 1970’s and 80’s, performing with Ian Carr’s Nucleus among several other groups. Again Sulzmann introduced the piece on unaccompanied tenor sax, later soloing powerfully above the appropriately Latin rhythms generated by a shaker wielding Giles. Giles subsequently enjoyed an extended drum feature before Hart took things storming out with a typically busy vibes solo underpinned by the swell of Downes’ Hammond. An energetic end to a very enjoyable first half.         

The second set commenced with Hart’s tune “Springs and Neaps”, a title inspired by the tides of his native Cornwall. It’s an appropriate enough moniker, suggestive of the constant ebb and flow of Neon Quartet’s music and with the composer’s swirling four mallet solo one of the highlights of the piece alongside the thrilling exchange of ideas and phrases between Downes on piano and Sulzmann on tenor sax. The saxophonist specialised on tenor throughout, but he is also a competent soprano player and an accomplished flautist. 

“Subjekt” contains an arrangement of Thelonious Monk’s “Bye Ya”, the only outside material to be included in tonight’s performance. This was introduced by an absorbing dialogue between downes at the piano and Giles at the drums with Downes switching to Hammond to accompany Sulzmann’s tenor solo . Giles subsequently entered into further dialogue, this time with Hart’s vibes on this good natured and often playful interpretation of Monk’s tune.

For me the high water mark of the second set was a beautiful rendition of Hart’s ballad “Last Of The Leaves”, a piece documented on “Subjekt” but also recorded on the Gemini album “Narrada”. Sulzmann sketched the folkish melody on soft and breathy tenor sax duetting with Hart’s vibes before Downes (on organ) and Giles at the drums took over the dialogue. In a piece that often focussed on the duos within the band Hart and Downes were the next pairing, the former on bowed vibes, the latter on Hammond in an ethereal and atmospheric exchange that was later augmented by Giles’ subtly brushed accompaniment.

The quartet completed their evening’s work with Sulzmann’s cheekily titled “New Balls” (it’s a tennis reference) introduced by Hart at the vibes and featuring Downes doubling on piano and organ (right hand piano, left hand Hammond) as Sulzmann soloed over a bed of increasingly complex rhythms, this was dazzling, almost mind boggling stuff.

As enjoyable as tonight’s show was I didn’t feel that it quite reached the heights of the Much Wenlock performance a couple of years ago. This however should not be taken as a criticism of the writing or playing, the problems lay with a rather sparse attendance and subsequent lack of atmosphere plus a less than perfect sound balance. As Peter Bacon out in his review for his Jazz Breakfast blog there was a tendency for the Hammond to “boom” at times and drown out the other instruments. Also from where I was sat on the extreme right of the auditorium Giles’ drums were sometimes too loud, overpowering Sulzmann in particular. Again I suspect that this was not the fault of the player, previously I’ve always found Giles to be the most sympathetic of accompanists , particularly in a context such as this. Instead I suspect that the problem lay with the miking. At Wenlock the balance had been perfect with every instrument mixed at just the right level thereby bringing out every detail and nuance of Neon Quartet’s complex but ultimately beautiful music. By his own admission Peter didn’t quite “get” the music either, but my only quibbles would be technical ones, this was still a performance that offered much to enjoy and one which showed that the sound of the group is still developing. In the meantime their recorded output is wholeheartedly recommended.