Phil Donkin’s Masterfrown

“Value”

(nWog Records 026)

I’m indebted to bassist Phil Donkin for providing me with a review copy of this recently released album when we talked at the Midlands Arts Centre in Birmingham following his appearance there with saxophonist Tom Challenger and drummer Oliver ‘Oli’ Steidle under the collective name Uncanny Valley. My account of that performance can be read here;
http://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/uncanny-valley-hexagon-theatre-midlands-arts-centre-mac-birmingham-28-03-20/

Born in Sunderland Donkin studied jazz at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, graduating in 2003. He quickly established himself as in demand bassist on the UK jazz scene and I first became aware of his playing as part of the trio led by pianist and composer Gwilym Simcock. Others with whom he has worked included pianist Ivo Neame, vocalist Brigitte Beraha, trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and saxophonists Julian Arguelles, Evan Parker, Christian Brewer, Tim Garland , Stan Sulzmann and Seb Pipe. During this time he also established a still ongoing musical relationship with the Norwegian saxophonist and composer Marius Neset.

The Simcock connection was particularly profitable in terms of raising his profile and Donkin subsequently moved to Brooklyn, New York City, establishing himself as a musician with an international reputation and working with such jazz heavyweights as  guitarists Kurt Rosenwinkel, Nir Felder, Ben Monder and John Abercrombie,  pianists Marc Copland, Edward Simon, Shai Maestro and Kevin Hays, multi reeds player Chris Speed and drummers Bill Stewart, Ralph Peterson and Nasheet Waits.

Donkin’s début recording as a leader, “The Gate”, was recorded with a New York based band featuring saxophonist Ben Wendel, pianist Glenn Zaleski and drummer Jochen Rueckert and was released on Michael Janisch’s Whirlwind Recordings in 2015. My account of a live show by this quartet at Dempsey’s in Cardiff in March 2015, which also took a look at the then new album, can be viewed here;
http://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/phil-donkin-quartet-dempseys-cardiff-04-03-2015/

Donkin has since settled in Berlin, where he has become a major figure on that city’s jazz and improvised music scene. His collaborators have included Steidle, trumpeter Bastian Stein and trombonist Nils Wogram, on whose nWog label this second album from Donkin appears.

The move to Berlin has seen Donkin exploring more experimental areas of jazz, including free improvisation, these tendencies being reflected in the recent Uncanny Valley performance. It’s probably fair to say that “Value” is a more adventurous recording than “The Gate”, good as that was.

Donkin’s début still had its roots in what has now become conventional ‘post bop’ and featured an orthodox line up of saxophone, piano, bass and drums. “Value” takes more chances and sports an unusual and distinctive international line up featuring the German musicians Joris Roelofs on bass clarinet and Wanja Slavin on alto sax, together with the all British rhythm pairing of Donkin on bass and Martin France at the drums.

The chordless line up and the unusual front line combination of bass clarinet and alto sax offers plenty of scope for unusual colours and textures within the music whilst also allowing considerable freedom for bass and drums, with the leader’s liberated bass often coming to the fore in the arrangements.

The first four tracks of the new album collectively form the “Zealot Suite”, composed, like all the other pieces, by Donkin.

Part 1 “Psycho Babble” commences with an extended dialogue between Donkin and France, the pair responding creatively to each others’ ideas with the leader’s bass subtly shaping the flow of the music. The addition of Roelofs and Slavin adds even greater interest to the already fascinating rhythmic patterns established by Donkin and France and as the piece progresses there’s a real sense that this is a genuine four way exchange rather than the usual ‘soloists plus rhythm section’ situation. The reeds sketch darting, scurrying melody lines while the bass and drums are no less active, with the always impressive France particularly busy.

A further extended dialogue between Donkin and France acts as the bridge into Part 2, “Master Frown”, the composition that gave its name to the band. The sense of dialogue remains strong through an absorbing exchange between Donkin and Roelofs before the whole band comes on board, the music racing forward with a heady joyousness that’s decidedly at odds with the title.

A passage of unaccompanied double bass presages Part 3, “Tonal Grimace”. Donkin’s playing remains at the heart of the piece as France provides a skittering brushed drum groove as the two reeds dance lightly and lithely around them, subsequently enjoying their own impish dialogue with a series of lively, playful exchanges.

The suite concludes with Part 4 “Jiblet” which kicks off with the two reeds picking up where they left off and continuing to enjoy a series of spirited changes above the busy polyrhythmic flow generated by Donkin and France. It’s great fun and very exciting, the four musicians wearing their virtuosity lightly to crate music that is both technically dazzling and highly entertaining.

A stunning passage of unaccompanied bass introduces the title track, “Value”. There’s a slightly more conventional jazz feel about this track as the reeds spar once more, vying with each other for excellence in a series of dizzying exchanges, above rhythmic grooves that first crawl and then race, with France again turning in a terrific performance.

“Crown of Thorns” flirts with both courtly elegance and spiky dissonance before Donkin and France set up an unstoppable groove that provides the impetus for the sharp, punchy phrasing of the reeds. But this being a Donkin composition it isn’t really that simple, with further changes of style and pace coming before the close. The leader is a writer who likes to keep both his musicians and his listeners on their toes.

“Enemy” bristles with energy and intent and is another excellent example of the now well established Masterfrown sound. Muscular, but supremely agile, bass and drum grooves now fuel scintillating individual solos from Slavin and Roelofs as the pair both stretch out at length. There’s also an extended solo from Donkin, his virtuoso playing underscored by France’s colourful and consistently inventive drumming.

An excellent album concludes with “Numb Worm”, the album’s most reflective and atmospheric track. At times it almost sounds like an avant garde “Last Post” as Slavin’s alto pipes emotively against a backdrop of mallet rumbles and grainy bass clarinet. Meanwhile while Donkin wields the bow for the first time, his tone rich and dark and almost cello like.

“Value” represents a highly impressive offering from Donkin. More focussed and compact than his début it boasts a highly distinctive group sound that is a tribute to both the abilities of the musicians involved and the quality of Donkin’s writing. The quartet find a wealth of interesting things to say within the context of what might have seemed a restrictive chordless line up. Instead we have n album that is both adventurous and highly accessible, despite its avant garde trappings. It’s hard to resist the sheer joy and inventiveness of some of these performances, there is always something going on melodically or rhythmically to catch the listener’s ear.

Part of the success is also down to the engineering team who combine to capture all the colour and nuance of this exceptional music. This too is an Anglo-German collaboration with Tito Knapp recording the music in Berlin, Alex Bonner mixing it in London and Adrian von Ripka doing the final mastering at the famous Bauer Studios in Ludwigsburg.

Striking an almost perfect balance between composition and improvisation and adventurousness and accessibility this is an excellent second outing as a leader from Donkin. Let’s hope he’s able to bring this band over to tour in the UK. I’d love to see this music being performed live.

 

blog comments powered by Disqus