Max Luthert - Shadows boxer

Max Luthert - Bass

Max Luthert stepped out of the shadows on the 14th October 2013 and recorded his debut album at Clown's Pocket Studio. With only a solitary composition to his name in "Assam" it was hard to know what to expect. Promise and curiosity were piqued with that lone addition to Partikel's second album "Cohesion" and with that mere glimpse we wondered what else lay under the surface of Luthert's iceberg.

Derek Nash

At the helm of the studio was Derek Nash, who has developed a close relationship with Luthert, and Partikel colleague Duncan Eagles. Where once Nash took a hands-on approach, even appearing on an early "Jazz Proof" album, he is now a fixer. Maybe tailor would be more appropriate, he stitches together these young players ideas, a nip and tuck here to create the stylish package that ultimately stands before us. In fact he was so relaxed he spent the morning session preparing sweet chestnuts for the freezer whilst repairing the odd Eagles dropped stitch.



Matt Robinson -
Piano

From old to new, Matt Robinson, is becoming a fixture on these South London Collectives and played an early role in "Grand Designs".


Duncan Eagles - Saxophone

Not a homage to the aspirational middle-class TV programme, but this was a little more Albert Speer, with the tune's compositional boulevards getting bigger and bigger after every vamp. Robinson scribbled all over Luthert's drawing board, creating a flourishing chaos that us humans seem to perfect.


Gareth Lockrane - Flute

The Saxophones of Seb Pipe (Alto) and Duncan Eagles (Tenor/Soprano) built the scaffold but they had deviated from architect Luthert's carefully drawn plans. "We're adding an extra note, but why are we both doing it?". To the untrained ear it was undetectable but obviously made all the difference as "Grand Designs" reached it conclusion like a teetering Tower of Babel. They stopped their construction luckily before the inevitable conclusion.



Seb Pipe - Alto Saxophone

"Edgewall" gave us a taste of what was to come, a surprise to me, for amongst the saxophone forestation here was the first dell. This glade became a clearing and broke out into the panoramic "Cloud On Cloud", a tune which represents Max Luthert's vision better than any. His spearhead on this and many other tracks was Gareth Lockrane on flute. The drums of Dave Hamblett provided the thermals and Matt Robinson a gentle breeze as Lockrane rose.



Dave Hamblett - drums

"Pacific Before Tiger" starts with a downy burr like Luthert's chin, soft and gentle but degenerated into more familiar Partikel territory with some spikey saxophone whiskers. There were 4 more tracks recorded, "Orbital", "Quiet December", "Metro Moodie" alongside a spanking new composition. You'll have to wait to hear those when the album comes out in 2014.

I'll be writing some more about them in my Album Inspirations too, because Max Luthert has put the artwork in my ink stained hands.

For now Luthert is back in the trio spotlight as Partikel traverse the windswept Scottish Highlands as part of their Autumn Tour. His music though still lurks in the sweet shadows and rather than it being thrust out, it is us who shall be pulled in.

AL.

See Partikel tonight in Edinburgh (1st Nov) and Fife on Sunday (3rd Nov).

Samuel Eagles - Summer Noir

Samuel Eagles -
Saxophone

Yesterday (19/06/2013) I was lucky enough to be at the point of creation when Samuel Eagles stepped into Clown's Pocket Studio in Kent to record his debut album. It's too easy to be over dramatic and of course these new tunes have been bubbling away in Eagles' life for sometime and hadn't just materialised as we would like to imagine in our romantic zeal



Ralph Wyld -
Vibraphone

Most Jazz musicians balance a quiet studious demeanour and an on-stage persona. Quite often there is a downtime bon-viveur air about them too that is instantly affable. Samuel Eagles possesses the former attribute in spades, he most  definitely is a thinker and introvert. Whether due to his youthfulness or circumstance I do not know. He doesn't control the stage when leading his quartet and often steps aside to let others take the limelight.





Eric Ford -
Drums

The affection I have for Eagles is a British kind of affair, that of the underdog and unassuming flair but on first hearing the music I am transported to the Continent or at least that taste of Europe that once seemed so exotic to us. 50 Pound Friendship is a case in point, the hints of darkness rest like the deep shadows cast by a southern sun, punctuations. Eagles is conversational but as an eavesdropper in a French New Wave film. If he is going to be one of the autuers of this new romantic sound then it is the space he evokes that will be his signature.

Expecting a spikier introspective sound I was totally switched 180 degrees upon first submersion in this music. It is that type of noir that isn't American in its violence nor Germanic in brooding dark percussion but a has a lightness with its devil may care of the French. Ralph Wyld epitomises this sound on vibraphone and it is easy to cast off your inhibitions and skinny dip in his melodies. Remembering Myself is an exponent of this serious happiness where Saxophone and Vibes ride the melodies together. They flirt in the dabbled shadows of the plane trees, perhaps Spanish this time, with a splash of Gaudi architecture peaking through the heat haze.

Fergus Ireland -
Bass

Ferg Ireland (bass) plays a strong swinging role on The Place I Live and Eric Ford (drums) calls a ripping 'Ferocious' once the track has been completed. He should have yelled 'Yabba Dabba Do' as the tune has more than a hint of 'The Flintstones' theme.

After casting off his trademark cowbell, Ford is the driving force on the Outsider and I get the chance to hear Smells Like Summer before I have to leave the session, apt subject matter as we feel the warmth on this June day. The doors to Derek Nash's studio are open and his wife, Beverley, tends to the their garden as I disappear into the Kent landscape.

What the rest of the session reveals I will have to wait to find out. I am a little tentative because Samuel Eagles is not a natural leader of men but maybe he might just be one of those inspirational figures that lets his creativity do the talking.
By the time this album sees the light of day, nights will be drawing in and Samuel Eagles' taste of Summer Noir will be only refuge for our blue sky optimism.

AL.

Ollie Howell Quintet debut - Day1



Ollie Howell - drums

Just a few short days after Ollie Howell won the Peter Whittingham Development Award I was lucky enough to find myself at Clown Pocket's Studio with his quintet. I'd only sketched Ollie once before (Hideaway's Monday Jam) and to my embarrassment knew nothing of his tunes. As Ollie started to warm-up he explained to me why I'd been kept in the dark.
Since meeting his mentor, Quincy Jones, in 2010 his life has been punctuated with several operations, lengthy hospital stays and periods of recuperation. To my surprise he was remarkably positive about the experience -

" I found new inspiration for my compositions, and was writing in a very different way to how I previously had done. Now the compositions mean much more to me than just notes and chords. Many of the tunes that will be on the CD were actually written in my hospital bed!

The music chronicles a really life-changing point in my life, but it is also a statement about how positivity and determination can overcome anything."



Matt Robinson





Max Luthert

 It is one of the perks of an artist's job that I can attend these recording sessions and familiarise myself with the music and the musicians. Derek Nash's excellent studio is split into 3 main rooms/booths and so I worked my way through them listening and sketching. Another member of the quintet I'd never heard before was Matt Robinson. He was crammed behind Derek's Steinway which was bizarrely covered in a Zebra skin style rug. His style was laid back and understated but as the intensity increased he asserted himself on the compositions and his tongue flicked out of his mouth like a rudder in a stormy sea.

On Bass, Saxophone and Trumpet were Max Luthert, Duncan Eagles and Mark Perry who have become regular collaborators in recent years.
 In fact Mr Luthert and I are showing our first film together at the British Shorts Exhibition in Berlin (Sputnik Kino) this January.


Mark Perry

 
Under the dramatic studio lighting Luthert came alive as the first tune of the day, World Apart, kicked into life. I was sealed into the booth and could hear through the triple glazed glass as Mark Perry cried "I'm going to go mental at the end of my solo". And he did.

I then ventured into Eagles and Perry's lair. Perry has a perpetual twinkle in his eye and with Eagles maintained a constant double act throughout the next hour. He joked (or declared) " I play the first 8 bars of what Ollie's written and then ignore the rhythm and the chords and play whatever I want."


Duncan Eagles

 Duncan Eagles, was physically under the weather but I knew he was on top musical form when his left shoulder bucked into life like a kicking mule. A great indicater of his dedication and commitment to the music.
We then spent many hours as Derek Nash masterfully carressed the quintet recording. Day 1 resulted in 7 tunes - World apart, So close so far, Later on, They, Dear old Stockholm, Hollow Victory and Beyond.

I'll be writing up Day 2 tomorrow.

Alban