Resolution 88, Music Spoken Here, The Marr’s Bar, Worcester, 23/10/2025.

Tom O’Grady – keyboards, Tom Smith – tenor & soprano saxophones, bass clarinet, Tiago Coimbra – electric bass, Ric Elsworth – drum kit, Oli Blake – percussion

A pleasingly substantial and highly enthusiastic audience was in attendance at the Marr’s Bar for this return visit from Resolution 88, the jazz / funk outfit led by keyboard player and composer Tom O’Grady.

Tonight’s show was the latest in Music Spoken Here’s Re; Play Series, which sees acts that visited the Marr’s Bar in MSH’s early days being invited back to perform in front of a larger audience than first time round, now that MSH has begun to build a following.

Resolution 88’s first visit had been in November 2022 for one of MSH’s earliest events (I didn’t latch on until March 2023) and tonight’s crowd was well in excess of that for the previous event.

Music Spoken Here promoter Dave Fuller first became aware of Resolution 88 and their music when he saw them support the great Stanley Clarke and they were among the first acts to visit MSH. Resolution 88 have also supported Snarky Puppy, Roy Ayers, Marcus Miller, Larry Mizell & the Blackbyrds, Butcher Brown, Yellowjackets and more, . It’s an impressive list that serves notice of the band’s considerable capabilities.

Resolution 88 is a long running outfit with four full length albums to its credit, “Resolution 88” (2014), “Afterglow” (2016), “Revolutions (2019) and “Vortex” (2024). They have also released a string of singles and remixes.

The band is centred around the nucleus of O’Grady, bassist Tiago Coimbra, drummer Ric Elsworth and percussionist Oli Blake. A number of distinguished saxophonists have also passed through the band’s ranks, among them George Crowley, Alex Hitchcock and current incumbent Tom Smith, previously seen at an MSH gig as a ‘dep’ in drummer Tristan Banks’ quartet in April 2023. A composer and bandleader in his own right the versatile Smith is a true stalwart of the UK jazz scene.

Resolution 88’s music is centred around the sound of the Fender Rhodes, an instrument that O’Grady first heard on a record by Jamiroquai. His burgeoning love affair with the instrument was well and truly ignited when he discovered the music of Herbie Hancock and particularly the “Head Hunters” album. Other sources of inspiration include Weather Report and the production team the Mizell Brothers, who produced a string of influential fusion, soul and r & b records in the 1970s, these often featuring the sound of the Fender Rhodes.

O’Grady’s keyboard set up tonight included a vintage Fender Rhodes, a modern generation Nord Stage 4 “which can do anything” and an ARP Odyssey synthesiser dating from 1974, of the type used by Kool & The Gang, among others.  His command of this array of instruments was genuinely impressive as he marshalled and orchestrated his sound in a manner that was reminiscent of the playing of such multi-keyboard masters as Hancock, Joe Zawinul, John Medeski and Chick Corea.

Elsewhere Resolution 88 proved to be a remarkably tight and cohesive unit with percussionist Blake adding a weight of delightful sonic detail to the funky, hard hitting grooves generated by Coimbra and the excellent Elsworth. This was music that was vibrant and exciting, but also imbued with considerable subtlety as the rhythm team negotiated a variety of often complex rhythms.

Meanwhile Tom Smith warmed to his task with some excellent contributions on tenor and soprano saxophones, plus bass clarinet, the inclusion of the latter perhaps a nod to multi-reed player Bennie Maupin, a member of Hancock’s Head Hunters band.

The band kicked off in lively fashion with the funk and Latin grooves of “Livewire”, a tune from their eponymous debut album from 2014 with O’Grady soloing on Fender Rhodes alongside Smith, whose powerful outing on tenor sax was complemented by the dynamic drum and percussion grooves generated by Elsworth and Blake.

Smith appears on the “Vortex” recording as a ‘guest’ and sat out for that album’s “Final Approach”, a gentler number that was performed by the core quartet. This introduced the sound of the ARP as a solo instrument, with O’Grady’s playing also incorporating a recurring arpeggiated Rhodes motif and densely layered sounds featuring all three keyboard instruments. Blake’s percussion added a wealth of colour and detail as Coimbra and Elsworth maintained a subtle groove.

The third item was a segue of “Moonflower” and “Phantom Of The Oberheim”, two tracks from the “Afterglow” album. “Moonflower” was instigated by an extended passage of unaccompanied Fender Rhodes, the transition into “Phantom…” coming with the addition of Smith’s bass clarinet motif and Elsworth’s hip hop style drum groove. This was dense and complex stuff, with O’Grady now adding the sound of synth drones to the equation, in addition to soloing on Rhodes.

The group had captivated its audience by now and O’Grady spoke to the crowd for the first time, introducing the band members and telling us what we had just heard.

Next up was the title track from the “Vortex” album, with a loosely structured and highly atmospheric intro featuring the sounds of electric bass, ARP synth, soprano saxophone and percussion. Gradually a more solid bass and drum groove was established, this acting as the platform for Smith’s incisive soprano sax solo, fuelled by a rapidly accelerating groove. O’Grady subsequently took over, deploying a range of keyboard sounds but focussing on Fender Rhodes.

“Sejuicing My Squeeze”, a tune from the band’s first album, got off to a false start, but this was quickly forgiven on a piece that represented one of the group’s quieter performances. This was a tune in the style of a soul jazz ballad with Smith featuring on tenor sax. ‘Gentle’ and ‘quiet’ are relative terms in Resolution 88’s soundworld, once this piece got underway it still managed to generate a fair head of steam, led by Smith’s passionate tenor sax soloing.

A lengthy first set came to a conclusion with the unashamedly funky “Shriffy” from the “Vortex” recording. Smith continued on tenor, his sax hook acting as the fulcrum for something of a drum and percussion workout from Elsworth and Smith. Elsewhere we enjoyed the sights and sounds of O’Grady and Smith cutting loose on Fender Rhodes and tenor sax respectively. A great, high energy way to bring an excellent first half to a close.

Set two was kick started by the rhythm section, who took to the stage first and seemed to be impatient to get on with things. They were eventually joined on “Dya Make Her”, another tune from the group’s debut album, by O’Grady on keys and Smith on tenor.

On the “Vortex” album “Love Will Come Around” is performed as a song featuring guest vocalist Vanessa Haynes. Here it featured the sounds of ARP synth and Blake’s Roland electric percussion in a keyboard dominated arrangement performed by the core quartet.

The title track from the “Revolutions” album was introduced by Smith on tenor, who played the squiggling, astonishingly complex melodic motif with considerable aplomb, possibly deploying circular breathing techniques at times. Centred around the tenor this was another quartet performance, this time with Blake sitting out. O’ Grady explained that as a keyboard player he often writes parts that saxophonists find almost impossible to play. Alex Hitchcock rises to the challenge on the record, Tom Smith did so here.

From the “Vortex” album the track “Sky High” is a tribute to the Mizell Brothers, Larry and Alphonso (Fonce). Fonce (1943 – 2011) is no longer with us but O’Grady informed us that he had been lucky enough to meet Larry, who is now aged eighty one. The piece is very much a showcase for the ARP and this was another quartet item,  dominated by the sounds of ARP and Rhodes and with Smith again sitting out.

From the “Revolutions” album came the seriously funky “Pitching Up” with O’Grady adopting a clavinet like sound on the versatile Nord. Resolution 88’s recordings feature O’Grady playing a whole raft of vintage keyboard instruments, some of them borrowed, including clavinet. This was one of the loudest pieces of the night with monstrous bass, drum and percussion grooves fuelling Smith’s powerful tenor sax soloing.

“Pitching Up” then segued into “Out Of Sync”, also from the “Revolutions” album. Introduced by Blake’s percussion, soon joined by Elsworth’s drums, this featured odd meter grooves (hence the title), keyboard stabs and raunchy tenor sax, with Rhodes and sax sharing the solos.

Coimbra studied at the famous Berklee College of Music in Boston, Ma, USA and the concluding “The Boss From Boston” was both a dedication to him and a feature for him. The opening track on the “Vortex” album this was another slice of serious funk with Smith leading the solos off on tenor followed by Coimbra on bass, his solo incorporating string slapping techniques.

Resolution 88’s vibrant and energetic performance prompted one of the most enthusiastic audience responses ever seen at a Music Spoken Here event and the band remained on stage to encore with “Taking Off”, the opening track on the “Afterglow” album. Featuring solos from Smith on soprano sax and O’Grady on Rhodes this was another overtly funky item which again included an electric bass feature from Coimbra, hitherto the ‘quiet man’ of the group laying down the groove at the back.

I have to say that I was hugely impressed by Resolution 88’s updating of the jazz-funk tradition and it’s easy to see why they’re considered to be one of the most exciting live bands around and why they’ve supported so many of the greats. And it’s not just about the groove, there’s intelligence and sophistication in their music too. I treated myself to two of their CDs, “Vortex” and “Afterglow” and can confirm that their music stands up on disc too.

My thanks to Tom O’Grady for chatting with me after the show and providing me with a set list, plus a host of other information, that has proved invaluable in the writing of this review.

Dave Fuller’s decision to bring acts back the Marr’s Bar for a second bite at the MSH cherry has proved to be quite inspired with both Robert Castelli and Resolution 88 making triumphant returns, and with both acts fulsome in their praise for MSH and for Dave’s achievements in bringing such high quality to music to Worcester.

This was another great MSH night at The Marr’s Bar.

 

 

 

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