Neil Cowley Trio

“Touch and Flee”

(Naim Jazz)

It seems almost unbelievable that it’s now eight years since pianist Neil Cowley exploded on to the UK jazz scene with his début trio album “Displaced”. Accompanied by bassist Richard Sadler and drummer Evan Jenkins Cowley delivered a high energy album packed with strong grooves and catchy hooks, taking his inspiration from bands such as E.S.T and The Bad Plus. “Displaced” won several awards but some critics remained unimpressed, citing a lack of improvisational content in Cowley’s music and the follow up album “Loud, Louder, Stop” (2008), the title cheekily lifted from a disparaging review, was less well received by the jazz press. Nonetheless Cowley had built up a loyal following by now thanks to the consistently exciting quality of the trio’s live shows, with the pianist’s waspish and very British wit an essential part of the performance. The second album also contained “His Nibs”, a particularly catchy item that featured in a Guinness TV ad and was referred to by Cowley as the band’s “big hit”.

2010’s “Radio Silence”, the trio’s first album for Naim, saw the group stretching out more with longer compositions, a greater variety of mood and pace and an increased degree of improvisation. This was the sound of a band growing up but without losing the vital energy and irreverence that made it so compelling and successful in the first place. 

“The Face of Mount Molehill” (2012) continued the maturing process as Cowley supplemented the sound of the core trio with a string quartet plus the guitar of Brian Eno collaborator Leo Abrahams. Texturally richer and more colourful than anything that had gone before “Mount Molehill” was a success with critics and audiences alike and Cowley took an extended line up out on tour with violinist Julian Ferrereto leading the strings. I saw an excellent “with strings” performance in Cardiff and can confirm that this was an experiment that worked brilliantly.

“Mount Molehill” also saw a change in the bass department with Sadler replaced by the Australian born Rex Horan, a prolific session musician and the leader of the funk/soul outfit Mama’s Gun. A flamboyant dresser and an exuberant soloist Horan brought a fresh dynamic to the group and has proved to be a popular addition. For those curious to know Sadler is currently working with vocalist Irene Serra as part of the group -isq.

And so on to the Cowley Trio’s latest offering “Touch and Flee”. This time the focus is exclusively on the sound of the trio on nine new Cowley compositions. It’s probably their most reflective recording to date, a sign of Cowley’s growing compositional maturity and further evidence that he is increasingly coming to regard recordings and live performances as separate entities- with the dynamic Horan on board there’s still plenty of that trademark energy at the trio’s live shows.  Cowley has stated that the new album represents the trio’s “concert hall recording” while John Fordham, awarding the album four stars in The Guardian, commented that this is “the Cowley album for anyone who ever wished this gifted maverick might dig deeper”. 

“Touch and Flee” is Cowley’s most varied album, certainly in the core trio format. Opener “Kneel Down” is hardly the archetypal Cowley barnstormer, instead it develops slowly out of sparse piano chords and Jenkins’ almost subliminal percussion, the almost hymnal quality suggesting that the composer might have been listening to Tord Gustavsen. There’s a serenity about the music that one hasn’t always associated with Cowley and his colleagues and the emergence of Jenkins as a drum colourist of the Motian/Christensen/Vespestad school is a revelation. 

The trio occupy slightly more familiar territory on “Winterlude” in which they play around with a slyly funky odd meter groove . It’s tantalisingly brief but captures some of the band’s celebrated mischievous spirit and is great fun.

“Sparkling” also references familiar ground as the group explore and develop a theme based around Cowley’s insistent piano arpeggios. It unfolds slowly, the harmonic landscape subtly shifting throughout in a way that recalls their primary inspiration, E.S.T. 

The Cowley trio have always had a way with a groove, but these days those grooves are getting more complex. Take “Gang Of One” which combines something of the urgency of the band’s early years with the increasingly sophisticated rhythms they choose to deploy nowadays and includes some engrossing and enthralling dialogue between Cowley and Jenkins. “Couch Slouch” explores similar territory and demonstrates that Cowley has lost nothing of his knack for coming up with memorable tune titles. 

However “Touch and Flee” is also about variety and contrast. “Bryce” is lush and melodic, one of the most straightforwardly romantic things Cowley has yet written. His luminous piano playing combines a classically honed touch with a melodic sensibility sharpened by his work in rock and pop. As a child prodigy Cowley was performing Shostakovich at the Southbank at the age of ten before turning his back on the classical world to work with the bands Brand New Heavies and Zero 7. Jazz stardom came later but Cowley remains an in demand session musician and his contributions to Adele’s enormously successful albums have ensured that he is one of the most listened to pianists on the planet.

“Mission” introduces itself with the ping of electronica which is subsequently woven into the piano led instrumental that follows. Featuring Horan on what sounds like electric bass it’s another piece that teases through its brevity and constitutes little more than a vignette. Nevertheless it’s highly effective and reminds me of the instrumental interludes on David Bowie’s “Berlin trilogy” of albums.

At six and a half minutes “Queen” is the longest track on the record and arguably its centre piece. The music develops quietly and organically out of Jenkins’ softly brushed intro. This is a genuine trio performance, thoughtful and interactive with the three musicians perfectly attuned to each other’s sensibilities. Cowley outlines delightful melodic sketches with Horan and Jenkins adding splashes of colour as the music opens like a flower. It’s a long way from the (relatively) youthful brio of the band’s early albums and is a piece that demonstrates a real musical maturity.

Closing track “The Art” is a delicately introspective piece for solo piano that possesses the sonorous spaciousness of an ECM recording, a fitting valediction to Cowley’s most mature recording to date.

The trio will be touring the UK in late September and throughout October 2014. They will be playing music from “Touch and Flee” but I suspect that the live shows may be significantly different to the record with plenty of the old crowd pleasing energy to keep the fans happy. Performances are said to be due to include such old favourites as “She Eats Flies” and “Rooster was a Witness” and I’m sure we’ll hear a lot more of Horan as a soloist - if there’s one disappointment about the new album it’s that we don’t really hear enough of him. That plus the record’s relative brevity and the revolting cover art - yes that really is Horan’s beard.

Neil Cowley Trio UK Tour 2014

26th Sept SOUTHPORT The Atkinson - http://www.theatkinson.co.uk  / 01704 533333

1st Oct   BRISTOL Colston Hall - http://www.colstonhall.org / 0844 887 1500

3rd Oct   LONDON The Barbican - http://www.barbican.org.uk  / 020 7638 8891

4th Oct   SOUTHAMPTON Turner Sims - http://www.turnersims.co.uk / 023 8059 5151

8th Oct   CARDIFF The Gate Arts Centre - http://www.orchardentertainment.co.uk / 02920 483344

9th Oct BRIGHTON Brighton Dome Corn Exchange - http://www.brightondome.org  / 01273 709709

10th Oct   OXFORD SJE Arts at St John the Evangelist Church - http://www.sje-oxford.org

11th Oct   GATESHEAD Sage Gateshead - http://www.sagegateshead.com / 0191 4434661

14th Oct BIRMINGHAM CBSO Centre - http://www.thsh.co.uk / 0121 345 0600

18th Oct MANCHESTER RNCM -www. rncm.ac.uk / 0161 907 5555

23rd Oct DERRY Derry International Choral Festival - http://www.codichoral.com

25th Oct BELFAST Crescent Arts Centre - http://www.crescentarts.org / 028 902 42338

26th Oct   DOWNPATRICK   Downs Arts Centre - http://www.downartscentre.com / 028 4461 0747

28th Oct ENNISKILLEN Ardhowen Theatre -  http://www.ardhowentheatre.com / 028 6632 5440

29th Oct OMAGH Strule Arts Centre - http://www.struleartscentre.co.uk / 028 8224 7831

30th Oct PORTSTEWART Flowerhill Arts Centre - http://www.flowerfield.org / 028 7083 1400

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