Sam Crowe Group

Birmingham Symphony Hall Foyer, 10/12/2010

Originally from Bristol but now based in London pianist and composer Sam Crowe has attracted a compelling amount of critical acclaim for his group’s début album “Synaesthesia”, released in 2009 on the F-ire Presents imprint. The album is favourably reviewed elsewhere on this site but seeing Crowe’s compositions performed live really brought the music to life for me.

Crowe brought his group to Birmingham for one of the popular free early evening jazz events that take place in the Symphony Hall foyer each Friday under the “Rush Hour Blues” banner. Presented by Birmingham Jazz in conjunction with Symphony Hall RHB is becoming an increasingly important presence on the UK jazz scene with bands from London and other UK regions frequently coming to play. Not that local talent is forgotten, Midlands based artists are still a substantial presence on the agenda, but RHB is now beginning to assume a national importance.

These evenings are always well attended and audiences are, in the main, enthusiastic and highly attentive. Crowe was rewarded with a good turn out which came as no surprise given the stellar quality of his band. Joining the pianist were saxophonist Adam Waldmann (Kairos 4tet), bassist Jasper Hoiby (Phronesis) and drummer Dave Smith (Outhouse), band leaders and composers all. Completing the quintet was guitarist Will Davis, a musician I’d not seen play live before and of whom I knew little apart from his work with Crowe’s group. Davis proved to be an excellent musician, certainly the equal of his colleagues and his guitar does much to give the Crowe group a distinctive flavour, making the band stand out from say, Waldmann’s Kairos 4tet. Davis was a very welcome musical voice that added greatly to the group’s overall appeal.

Crowe and his group played the bulk of the material from “Synaesthesia” plus one new tune, “Bad Science”, over two brief but enjoyable sets. Crowe’s writing is complex but accessible and he exhibits a fierce musical intellect. The way the melodic lines of Crowe’s piano, Waldmann’s saxophones and Davis’ guitar intertwined and overlapped was fascinating. There was a distinct sense that here was a working band that had thoroughly played in it’s material and was happy taking risks with it. In addition to the excellent individual soloing the interplay between the three front line instruments was superb and it was clear that Crowe and his colleagues were thoroughly enjoying themselves. Meanwhile the rhythm pairing of the always excellent Hoiby and the effervescent young drummer Smith were bouncing rhythmic ideas off each other and were clearly enjoying themselves immensely too, Smith visibly growing in confidence as the performance progressed.

It was interesting to hear Waldmann on tenor on the opening two pieces “Synaesthesia” itself and “Mother Nature’s Middle Age”. Waldmann is something of a soprano specialist in his own group and he later switched to the straight horn here but his performance on these two pieces served to demonstrate that he also has considerable ability on the tenor. Also included over the course of the evening were the aforementioned “Bad Science” (which opened the second set),  “Fall From Grace”, the ballad “Phoebe Baby” ( a dedication to Crowe’s young niece) and an exuberant take on “The Global Brain” which included some dynamic work from Hoiby and Smith. They closed the second set out in fine style with a storming version of “Maxman”, the catchiest tune on the Synaethesia album. At some point the group should be making a second record and if “Bad Science” is anything to go by this should be well worth waiting for.

This was an excellent performance and one well worth making the journey for. Despite the occasional glitch the sound was very good and having taken up a good position early on I was rewarded with a free performance that had the quality of a paying concert. The only disappointment was that they had to finish early due to the early start of Handel’s “Messiah”  in the main house.

Thanking the band for a final time at the end of the gig Birmingham Jazz’s Tony Dudley Evans said “I hope those of you going to the Messiah enjoyed your little taste of the devil’s music”. The applause suggested that they did, and for those avid Satanists amongst us it had to be said that Sam Crowe and his Group were devilishly good.

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