Sam Green

“Rivers and Lakes”

(Flaming Sword Records)

Sam Green – drums, Em Craig – tenor sax, Daniel Vause – tenor sax, Nils Kavanagh – piano, Nick Davydenko – guitar, Ursula Harrison – double bass

Originally from Leeds the young drummer and composer Sam Green is now based in Cardiff following studies at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (RWCMD). He has also studied at the Grieg Academy in Bergen, Norway.

I first heard, and indeed saw, him play for the first time in April 2026 when he appeared as a member of the trio led by pianist and composer Nils Kavanagh at Black Mountain Jazz in Abergavenny. The line-up was completed by bassist Ursula Harrison, a former BBC Young Jazz Musician of the Year and a bandleader in her own right. My review of this performance by the Nils Kavanagh Trio can be found here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/nils-kavanagh-trio-black-mountain-jazz-the-melville-centre-for-the-arts-abergavenny-26-04-2026

Green also appears on Kavanagh’s excellent debut album “No Expectations”, released in 2025 and featuring Marcus Baber on bass. Album review here;
https://www.thejazzmann.com/reviews/review/nils-kavanagh-no-expectations

In addition to his role with the Kavanagh Trio Green is also a member of groups led by vocalist and songwriter Isla Croll and guitarist Joseph Van Parys. He also plays with the rock band Statues of Men, the folk / jazz trio Canna, and Orbit Street, a jazz / folk / indie ensemble led by Harrison in her combined roles of bassist, vocalist and songwriter.

Green is the ‘house drummer’ at a number of regular jazz events in Cardiff and is an increasingly in demand sideman who works with saxophonist Glen Manby, guitarist James Chadwick, pianist Charlie Herbert and harpist Ben Creighton-Griffiths among others. He is due to accompany vocalist Jacqui Dankworth at the 2026 Brecon Jazz Festival and is scheduled to tour with the Italian bass clarinettist Stefano Doglioni in February 2027.

In addition to all of this Green is also a composer and bandleader and Rivers and Lakes represents both a band name and an album title. The band is an international sextet featuring musicians now all based in Cardiff with personnel as listed above.

As the name Rivers and Lakes suggests Green’s writing is inspired by landscape and nature and several pieces are inspired by specific locations, both in various part of the UK and also in Norway. There’s a story behind every composition and these are recounted as part of Green’s album notes. The programme features seven Green originals plus a jazz arrangement of the John Mayer song “Stop This Train”.

The album was recorded at Fieldgate Studios in Penarth by engineer Andrew Lawson and with Joseph Van Parys in the producer’s chair. It appears on the independent Flaming Sword record label, co-founded by Harrison and Kavanagh.

The album commences with “Brightskies”, which Green intends to evoke a spring morning, “when the world comes back to life after a long winter”. It emerges slowly and unhurriedly, centred around the soft chiming of piano and guitar arpeggios overlain by wispy tenor sax melodies. Subsequently the music bursts into life with Craig emerging as the featured tenor sax soloist, Green variously describing her solo as “hefty” and “charged”. The piece then ends more quietly with a beautiful double bass solo from Harrison.

“Forest Song (Song Of Loss)” draws inspiration from both the natural and emotional worlds and represents a study of the grieving process with a sombre opening section featuring piano, bass and the leader’s delicate drum commentary. The twin tenors then take up the melody, paced by Kavanagh’s piano. The tune then gathers momentum, the second part of the piece expressing “the strange, joyous side of grief, upon realising that you can move forwards”. The saxes become more assertive and Davydenko’s guitar plays a greater part in the arrangement.

“Mountains And Mist” is named for the titular weather conditions in both Bergen and the English Lake District but the music is more hard hitting than the title might suggest. Davydenko takes the first solo on guitar, probing intelligently as Green offers powerful but nuanced support from the kit. The leader also delivers his only drum solo of the set, a neatly constructed feature that gradually gathers momentum and serves to steer the band into the collective final section.

Green is a big John Mayer fan, as are other members of the sextet, hence the decision to cover “Stop This Train”, a song with lyrics musing on the nature of both youth and mortality. It’s a piece previously covered by the American saxophonist Joshua Redman, which Green acknowledges before adding “but I felt we had something different to say”. The twin saxes of Vause and Craig intertwine delicately as Davydenko underpins everything on guitar. Kavanagh adds dashes of melody from the piano while leader Green gives a delicately nuanced brushed drum performance.

“Harbour Sun” takes its inspiration from the vivid sunsets that Green enjoyed at various Norwegian locations during his exchange visit. Craig was on the same exchange and it’s her unaccompanied tenor sax that introduces the piece. The two horns later combine to blow notes into the interior of the piano as Kavanagh holds down the sustain pedal to generate an eerie reverb. Atmospheric and dramatic by turns this is a piece that makes effective use of dynamics.

“Haystacks” is named for a fell in the Lake District and the music captures something of its foreboding presence, with uncredited wordless vocals also featuring. Central to the composition is an extended piano solo from Kavanagh that maintains the mood of the piece whilst also being highly inventive. It’s a welcome reminder of just how talented he is as a piano soloist.

Meanwhile “Snowcloud” captures a moment in Green’s native Leeds, with Davydenko’s delicate but imaginative solo guitar intro setting the scene. Kavanagh’s piano motif then takes over, later supplemented by the long, slow melody lines of the saxes. Davydenko then returns to the fore, before handing the lead back to the saxes, one of whom takes an expansive but uncredited solo. All of Green’s pieces have a strong sense of narrative, but this piece especially so as it begins to gather an additional impetus towards the close.

The album concludes with “Song For My Friends”, which Green dedicates to some of the people who showed him kindness during his time in Norway. There’s a genuinely song like quality about this wistful instrumental piece, which is ushered in by Davydenko and Harrison, but which later features the saxophones more prominently as they trade solos.

“Rivers and Lakes” represents an impressive debut from Green. His writing is intelligent, atmospheric, and exhibits a strong sense of narrative and sense of place, while the unusual instrumental format featuring the twin tenor saxes makes for a distinctive group sound with no one player overly dominant. It’s also refreshing to hear a contemporary jazz group featuring two tenor saxophones that doesn’t sound too obviously influenced by Polar Bear.

As for Green himself that one drum feature aside he’s largely happy to be part of the ensemble, providing percussive colour and nuance rather than concentrating on demonstrating his ‘chops’. It’s an admirably mature approach that also finds expression in his writing for the group.

This is an album that exhibits considerable promise and as Green develops both as a player and a writer I expect to hear even greater things from him in the future.

 

 

 

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