Konrad Wiszniewski / Euan Stevenson

“New Focus”

(Whirlwind Recordings WR4629)

Scottish based musicians Konrad Wiszniewski (tenor and soprano saxophones) and Euan Stevenson (piano) were commissioned by the 2011 Edinburgh Jazz festival to perform material from saxophonist Stan Getz’s 1961 orchestral album “Focus” alongside arrangements of their own material. This fiftieth anniversary celebration was extremely well received and the project developed a life of its own culminating in “New Focus”, a set of original compositions by Wiszniewski and Stevenson played broadly in the style of the Getz album that inspired it by a jazz quartet, string quartet, and guest harpist (Alina Bzhezhinska).

The jazz quartet features the co-leaders alongside Whirlwind label founder Michael Janisch on double bass and the leading Scottish drummer Alyn Cosker. The strings come courtesy of the Glasgow String Quartet-William Chandler (violin 1), Jacqueline Spears (violin 2), Ian Budd (viola) and Betsy Taylor (cello). The musicians of the GSQ are all vastly experienced classical players and are concurrently members of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra but they are also part of a new breed of classical musician, capable of working effectively alongside jazz musicians and becoming involved in the improvising process.

Co-leaders Wiszniewski and Stevenson are similarly versatile. Wiszniewski is perhaps best known for his work with the brass ensemble Brass Jaw but he also leads his own small groups and is a member of the acclaimed Scottish National Jazz Orchestra directed by fellow saxophonist Tommy Smith. He has also worked extensively with rock and pop artists including Hue and Cry and the Brand New Heavies.
Stevenson has a foot in both the jazz and classical camps with influences ranging from Errol Garner and Oscar Peterson to Claude Debussy and Erik Satie. He leads his own jazz trio but has also written large scale works for both jazz and classical ensembles.

The music on “New Focus” explores jazz and classical forms and adds a distinctive Scottish folk element to the legacy of Stan Getz. The composing credits are split pretty much equally between the co-leaders with Stevenson taking care of the orchestration and arrangements. There is a strong pictorial and narrative quality to the music beginning with Wiszniewski’s “Nicola’s Piece”. The sounds of the string quartet act as kind of overture with the melancholy ring of Taylor’s cello particularly effective, shades here of those Satie and Debussy influences. The jazz elements are added slowly and subtly with Stevenson eventually laying the template for Cosker’s brushed drum groove. This fuels solos from Stevenson on piano and Wiszniewski on tenor with the strings providing a balancing sweetness. As well as evoking Getz Wiszniewski’s contribution also brings back memories of the playing of the late Michael Brecker. 

“Intro” proves to be a brief episode for solo bass which ushers in the plucked strings that introduce Stevenson’s “El Paraiso” which adds an element of tango to the mix. Wiszniewski’s blues tinged tenor emotes beguilingly above Cosker’s delicate hand drums and the alternating sound of bowed and plucked strings. It’s an atmospheric and convincing vignette.

Stevenson’s delicate solo piano introduces Wiszniewski’s “For Ray” which develops to embrace a big toned, highly emotive tenor solo amid swirling strings and Cosker’s powerful and assertive drumming. For some reason Stevenson’s sparkling solo against a bank of soaring strings reminded me of Lyle Mays’ piano playing with the Pat Metheny Group. Indeed there’s something of Metheny’s melodic and narrative sense to be found throughout the album.

Also by Stevenson “Interlude” is an unaccompanied harp solo in which Bzhezhinska alludes to both classical and folk forms, there’s more than a hint here of that old Celtic twilight. The piece serves as an introduction to Stevenson’s melancholy lament “Music For A Northern Mining Town” which pairs lushly brooding strings with his own lyrical piano and Wiszniewski’s keening soprano.

By way of contrast Wiszniewski’s “Illuminate” is the most upbeat item on the record driven by brisk bass and drum grooves and featuring a delightfully playful solo from Stevenson and a forceful yet relaxed statement from the composer. The strings’ role here is essentially textural as the jazz quartet relish the chance to cut relatively loose.

Also by Wiszniewski “Dziadzio” (it means “grandfather apparently, thanks to Alison Bentley of the London Jazz Blog for that) represents another flirtation with tango, the strings taking a more prominent role here alongside the warm tones of the composer’s tenor.

Stevenson’s “Leonard’s Lament” features Wiszniewski’s soprano soaring above lush strings and a buoyant bass and drum groove.

The album closes with “Parson’s Green”, the music introduced by rippling harp and piano before the ensemble strike a spiky, insistent rhythmic pulse which fuels joyous and expansive solos from the co-leaders alongside features for Janisch and Cosker, both rhythm men are in typically dynamic form. Wiszniewski takes things wailing out on the tenor, this is a hugely uplifting way to end a richly varied album. However quite why the Scottish duo should wish to honour London SW6 remains a mystery.

I’ll freely admit that I’m not always a huge fan of strings on jazz recordings and there were moments when I found the GSQ’s contribution to be overly sweet and sugary and in the case of “illuminate” pretty much superfluous. However taken as a whole this collaboration between the two very different types of quartet works well with some excellent writing and arranging combining to create an adventurous, well programmed album. The playing and production is of the high standard we have come to expect from the Whirlwind imprint and “New Focus” represents a welcome, if somewhat different, addition to the label’s catalogue.

Wiszniewski and Stevenson will launch the album at the Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho on Tuesday November 13th 2012 as part of London Jazz Festival. For details see http://www.pizzaexpresslive.com

 

       

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