Greg Cordez Quintet – Paper Cranes launch

Hen & Chicken Sunday 6 December 

Listening to Paper Cranes, the debut album from bass player Greg Cordez’ quintet getting its Bristol launch at the Hen & Chicken (December 6), the first thing you notice is the bass – or rather the lack of it. As a band leader Greg has taken his cue from the great Charlie Mingus and concentrated on getting the whole sound right, even if it meant standing back a bit himself:

“I get really fed up listening to bass players who use solo albums as an excuse for self-indulgence, so for me the bass is not the strongest part: it’s the writing that’s strongest I hope. The only concession is I wanted the rhythm section to come up in the mix, toning down the horns a little.”

The album is a great set of mostly original contemporary jazz numbers, reflecting Greg’s fairly recent development as a tunesmith, not something that came easily to him, as he recalls.

“I had to get a portfolio together and I spent weeks stressing to write proper jazz song. I just couldn’t do it. Then I gave up trying to be a ‘composer’ and just wrote a simple tune – Camilla Rose – in an evening. I realised that you need clarity to start from for jazz, then when you come to solos you can deconstruct it.”

The tune is a haunting ballad on the album, with Jim Blomfield’s light touch piano framing Jake McMurchie’s tenor sax elaborations and Nick Malcolm’s adventurous trumpet with Greg and drummer Mark Whitlam steadily intensifying the rhythm sound until the tune breaks free and coasts back down satisfyingly. For a composer to give his material to such a freethinking bunch of players could feel risky, but they’re exactly what Greg wants:

“That’s the point! I just get it about 90% there knowing that once we get playing it will move where it wants to go. Someone like Nick brings a subversion – it’s vital. You can’t fully compose improvised music so you just need to trust your players. The editing on the album is non-existent, really – what you hear is what we did, a couple of takes and then move on. It was all done in a day and a half.”

Touting early mixes around the jazz record trade Greg was pleased with the interest it got, especially when New York based Ninety & Nine Records decided to release it. He was even more pleased when London’s Pizza Express invited him to perform it as part of the 2015 EFG London Jazz Festival, a prestigious launch opportunity indeed, even if it did jump in ahead of the planned local event. It shows how wide the reach of Greg’s music may well turn out to be. 

The album’s range is impressive, from the tight-reined minimalist-influenced Schrodinger & The Cat to the more eloquent balladry of Camilla Rose and Ron Free and the outright wig-out of the improvisational Black Bear . But however diverse the music the collectivity of the band easily encompasses it, enriching the tunes through the overlaying of nicely collaborative contributions, avoiding the formulaic cliché of ‘who’s solo is it next?’. Above all there’s a definite compositional voice throughout, marking Greg Cordez as a creative bandleader to keep a close eye on.