The Magic Hat Ensemble

“Made In Gorton”

(Jellymould Jazz JM-JJ006)

Manchester’s Magic Hat Ensemble created quite a splash nationally with the release of their 2010 début album “This Conversation Is Over” (Jellymould Jazz) and their accompanying UK tour. A review of their April 2010 performance at The Hive in Shrewsbury is reviewed elsewhere on this site. Their second album, “Made In Gorton”, was supported by a similarly far reaching tour earlier in 2011. 

The Magic Hatters have won many friends with their distinctive updating of jazz and bebop standards as they bring a contemporary, sometimes irreverent and decidedly Northern attitude to their interpretations of some of the jazz classics. Led by Steve Chadwick the group’s personnel remains as Chadwick (trumpet/cornet), Tony Ormesher (guitar), Andrzej Baranek (piano), Nick Blacka (bass) and Richard Turner (drums). The album title is a proud reference to their part of Manchester and comes complete with retro packaging that pays homage to the much loved vinyl format. Once again the album appears on the Huddersfield based Jellymould Jazz imprint.

Once again the album features a series of exploration on a varied selection of jazz classics delivered in the unique Magic Hat style. A brief introductory fanfare leads into a furiously swinging “You and the Night and the Music” led off by Chadwick and featuring the flying fretboard work of Tony Ormesher. The guitarist is one of MHE’s most potent weapons, a fluent improviser rooted in the bop tradition but often packing a rock attitude. Pianist Baranek follows with a similarly sparkling solo and there’s an effervescent drum feature from the excellent Rob Turner. It’s then left to leader Chadwick to steer the group home. It’s an exhilarating start that displays many of the qualities that have made the group such an exciting live draw.

Victor Feldman’s “Seven Steps To Heaven” begins more reflectively with Blacka’s bass pulse, Chadwick’s trumpet squiggles and Turner’s shimmering percussion. There’s an almost New Orleans feel about Chadwick’s playing albeit filtered through 60’s avant garde elements as the piece begins to build momentum with Chadwick soloing above the almost martial chatter of Turner’s drums. The main theme/hook introduces more conventional bebop elements but an insistent keyboard vamp represents a more contemporary development and forms a hypnotic backdrop for further solos from Chadwick and Ormesher and there’s another dynamic feature from Turner too. As other observers have noted the Magic Hatters take great delight in subverting tunes by altering structures and time signatures and this arrangement of the old Miles Davis vehicle serves as a particularly fine example. 

“Just Friends” begins with gentle washes of arpeggiated piano and builds gradually with the introduction of guitars, trumpet and rhythm. In MHE terms it’s a ballad and includes a deeply resonant bass solo from Blacka plus the warm, effusive trumpet tones of leader Chadwick.

The group’s treatment of the famous Jazz Messengers warhorse “Blues March” opens with appropriately military style drumming but soon begins to vary the tempo, sometimes racing to a gallop, at others slowing to a walk. It’s a refreshing re-imagining of a much played item with fine solos coming from Chadwick, Blacka and a subtly bluesy Baranek. In the latter part of the tune Ormesher cuts loose to deliver another typically agile and mercurial solo.

Hermeto Pascoal’s beautiful “Menina Ilza” is given a subtle gospel flavour with Ormesher revealing his more sensitive side with a picked acoustic guitar solo. Blacka again impresses at the bass and Chadwick caresses the melody via his trumpet.

A spirited interpretation of Wayne Shorter’s “Speak No Evil” takes the album storming out with   powerful solo statements from Ormesher, Baranek and Chadwick above the propulsive rhythms of Blacka and Turner. It’s a thrilling finale to a consistently entertaining but highly sophisticated album. There’s even a brief “punk jazz” style secret track that acts as a kind of irreverent coda.

The Magic Hat Ensemble are far more than just another “bebop by numbers” outfit. Their imaginative and highly contemporary arrangements breathe fresh life into even the most hackneyed of material. The standard of musicianship is of a high standard throughout with leader Chadwick the glue that holds the band together. Both Ormesher and Baranek are fluent, inventive soloists and in Blacka and Turner the band has a flexible and often very powerful rhythm section. As its down to earth title suggests “Made In Gorton” is refreshingly unpretentious but always retains the listener’s attention with it’s clever arrangements and quality playing. As the group’s publicity states “It’s not all happening in London!”, a statement I’ll readily endorse whilst adding that the Magic Hat Ensemble are also a supremely entertaining live act. 

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